An MP is calling for legal safeguards to limit repetitive heading in football training, amid growing concerns about the risk of brain injury.
Grahame Morris, the Labour MP for Easington, submitted a parliamentary motion on Tuesday urging the government to take action to reduce the number of times a player can head the ball in training.
Researchers have found footballers are three and a half times more likely to die from a neurodegenerative disease than the general population.
The Early Day Motion (EDM) describes the need to protect players' brain health as a "significant public health and player welfare issue".
"The aim of this EDM is to raise awareness of the growing body of evidence linking repeated head impacts, particularly from heading a football, to an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease," Morris told BBC Sport.
The motion encourages the government "to take a more active role in prevention, education and player protection" Morris added.
Morris's motion supports a national petition submitted in September by the charity Head Safe Football, and calls on the government to take a number of actions:
Impose legal limits on repetitive heading in football training
Establish a cross-departmental task-force involving medical experts, players representatives, campaign groups and football authorities to develop "enforceable heading safeguards"
Recognise chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as a public health concern
