Ex-Wales players’ families among brain injury case claimants

The families of late Wales internationals Keith Pontin and Alan Jarvis are among those taking legal action against football authorities, including the Football Association of Wales [FAW], over brain injuries allegedly suffered during their careers.

Pontin, a former Cardiff City defender who played twice for Wales, died at the age of 64 in 2020, a year after Jarvis – who was 76 and had spent most of his career at Hull City and earned three Wales caps.

The families have joined representatives of other ex-players, including Joe Kinnear – the late former Tottenham Hotspur defender and Wimbledon manager – in accusing the International Football Association Board [IFAB], the Football Association [FA], the English Football League [EFL] as well as the FAW of failing to take reasonable action to protect players from permanent damage caused by repeated concussive blows.

Pontin, a former central defender, made more than 200 league appearances and also played for Merthyr Tydfil and Barry Town.

In 2022, an inquest found that he had died of dementia due to chronic traumatic encephalopathy [CTE], a progressive brain condition believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head.

Jarvis, who played more than 150 league games for Hull, was diagnosed with an unknown form of dementia and spent his later years in a care home in north Wales.

His family donated his brain to medical research being undertaken at the University of Glasgow.

Coroners concluded that he died from Alzheimer’s “caused by his occupation”.

Dr William Stuart, a consultant neuropathologist who studied Jarvis’ brain, said mortality with Alzheimer’s disease was five times higher in former professional footballers than the general population.