THE FAMILY OF Fulham legend and ex-Ireland international Jimmy Conway believe the former star’s dementia is directly linked with his career as a footballer.
In an interview with The Oregonian newspaper, the retired player’s wife Noeleen said she was “100% certain” that her husband’s decline was caused by heading the ball over the course of over 300 games with Fulham.
Doctors assessing the 70-year-old, who is now based in Portland, Oregon, also feel the illness is related to his former profession, according to US media reports.
“Sometimes I look at his eyes and it’s like someone has pulled the shades down,” Noeleen Conway told the paper. “And I think that’s the hardest part. We’ve been married for 45 years. We worked together. We were in each other’s pockets 24/7. And he just went away. I suspect it began in his 50s. The declines were there. They are so subtle. I’d notice some things but you kind of brush them off. And then something else pops up.”
Conway, who came through the youth system at Stella Marris and started his career at senior level with Bohemians, has been hospitalised with dementia since 2013 and is unable to communicate as a result.
The former midfielder ended his career at Portland Timbers while also having a brief loan spell at Sligo Rovers in addition to scoring three goals in 20 appearances for Ireland between 1966 and 1977.
Part of the Fulham team that were runners-up in the 1975 FA Cup, he is also credited with playing a substantial role in the rise of soccer’s popularity in Oregon, coaching there between 1980 and 2009.
The interview comes days after the family of ex-England international Nobby Stiles spoke to The Independent about a similar illness, which the World Cup winner is suffering from.
Dawn Astle — whose father, the ex-West Brom footballer Jeff Astle, died from degenerative brain disease at the age of 59 in 2002 — is due to meet today with chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, Gordon Taylor.
The interview is part of a BBC documentary exploring the possible links between heading the heavy footballs that were customary during the era when Astle and Conway starred.
“We believe there are many people who have suffered like my dad who we do not know about,” Astle’s daughter said. “People think ‘Oh, these people are in their 70s. They are old.‘ But dad was 54. Others have also suffered, years before the usual onset of this kind of illness.”
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