Families of 1966 World Cup winners in plea for change over heading the ball at Spennymoor match

• Video report by Chris Conway

The red silhouettes of 66 former footballers who have suffered damage to their brains are being used to highlight the dangers of the game.

One of those who died after a diagnosis of dementia was World Cup winner Jack Charlton.

His brother Tom Charlton, 72, said he believes Jack developed the disease after years of heading footballs.

He said: "Jack died suffering from dementia and if there's anything that I can do to raise the profile, then I will, I will do everything that I can.

“Heartbreaking doesn’t come anywhere near, it is devastating to watch.

“For me to watch my big brother, my hero, dying and suffering from dementia, it was appalling, I wouldn't want that to happen to anybody.

“To think that there are so many people who have been footballers who aren't getting any help is not what society should be putting up with.”

On Sunday, 25 September, a match highlighting the issue was held at Spennymoor Town FC by charity Head for Change.

The charity was set up by Dr Judith Gates to raise awareness about the dangers of heading the ball in football and to support ex-players who suffer from neurodegenerative diseases.

She was inspired to set it up after her husband Bill Gates, who played for Middlesbrough between 1961 and 1973, was diagnosed with dementia.

He was told in 2017 he had probable Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a progressive brain condition that is thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head and repeated episodes of concussion.

Dr Gates said: "I am very practical and I am trying to do things in his name but it is a long and sad, brutal journey, and I have watched my husband melt away cognitively. 

"I am now watching him melt away physically. This is my lifetime partner.

"I am suffering from what is described I think as ambiguous loss, because I lose a little bit of him everyday.

“The good thing that comes out of that, if anything good can come out of it, is that it makes me all the more determined to try and protect others for not having to go on this journey- it's tough.”

The symptoms of CTE vary, but tend to be similar to those of other types of degenerative brain conditions, particularly Alzheimer’s disease.

CTE usually begins gradually several years after receiving repetitive blows to the head or repeated concussions.

The symptoms affect the functioning of the brain and eventually leads to dementia.

Head for Change also supports ex-players who are affected by neurodegenerative disease as a result of their professional sporting career in football or rugby.

The charity hosted Professor Willie Stewart, an expert in the field of brain injuries in sport, who gave a talk at the Spennymoor event.

Many well-known football faces attended the event to show their support for the cause.

Former England football player and current Sunderland manager, Tony Mowbray said that, although he wants to protect the next generation of footballers, the decision to ban heading needs to be a global one.

He added: “It is a delicate one for me because it is a game that has given me my life really since I left school and as a kid, since the age of three all I have ever done is kick a football and head a football.

"I think it is such a huge decision, somewhere in the world of football, for that to happen because it is such a global game.

"Whether the professional game adopts it, I’m not so sure because if they are not going to take out heading in Brazil or Argentina, why should they take out heading in England.

"All the world governing bodies will have to make those calls. It really is a global decision for football.

John Charles Stiles, a former professional footballer and the son of 1966 World Cup-winner Nobby Stiles, who died of dementia as a result of CTE, said: “I am a former professional football player myself. My dad was Nobby Stiles, we donated his brain, heading the ball killed him.

“I believe it is killing thousands of other players and will continue to do so until something is done about it.

“Fortunately we have got Head For Change but it is taking people like Head For Change to spread the message and it is disappointing that it is not the football authorities.

“I believe something has got to be done now.

“This can’t hang about, it is not your knees, hips, it is your brain and brain damage and it needs to be dealt with now."

Stiles's brain was donated to the FIELD study conducted by Dr Stewart into the link between dementia and a career in professional football.

The match in Spennymoor was the second to take place to raise awareness about the issue and to raise funds for the charity.

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