Nicholl death certificate changed to reflect head trauma

The death certificate of former Aston Villa and Southampton defender Chris Nicholl has been changed to reflect he had brain disease linked to repetitive head trauma, which his family believe was caused by playing football.

Nicholl, who won 51 caps for Northern Ireland, died in February 2024 aged 77, with bronchopneumonia and a bowel condition cited on his death certificate.

That was changed at a new hearing at Salisbury Coroner's Court on Thursday - after a campaign by his family.

Nicholl's former partner Jane told the BBC the significance of having the death certificate amended was "so football can't say: 'No this isn't happening'".

"Football is all Chris wanted to do - he wouldn't have changed his career," she said. "But we want it on record that it wasn't Alzheimer's.

"There are going to be a lot more families... football's got away with ignoring it for a long time."

Earlier this week, a coroner ruled that repeatedly heading a football was "likely" to have contributed to the brain disease that was a factor in the death of former Scotland and Manchester United footballer Gordon McQueen.

In that case, coroner Jonathan Heath said McQueen suffered repetitive head impacts during his career and "on the balance of probability repeatedly heading footballs contributed to his developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)".

Nicholl is best remembered for spells as a player at Villa and Southampton. He was Saints manager for six years and Walsall boss from 1994-1997. He was also part of the Northern Ireland team that reached the World Cup finals in 1982.

In the 2017 BBC documentary Dementia, Football and Me, Nicholl told former England captain Alan Shearer, who played under him at Southampton, he was "brain-damaged from heading balls".

Nicholl said: "My memory is in trouble. Everyone forgets regular things, where your keys are. But when you forget where you live, that's different.

"I've had that for the last four or five years. It is definitely getting worse. It bothers me."

After Nicholl died, his brain was donated to neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart - author of the 2021 'field' study, funded by the Football Association (FA) and Professional Footballers' Association, that found footballers are 3.5 times more likely to suffer from neurodegenerative conditions.

Dr Stewart told the family Nicholl's brain showed CTE, which is a type of dementia seen in those who have suffered repetitive head injuries.

The FA is phasing in heading bans in under-11 football, funding further research into the links between heading and brain injury, and has issued guidelines around reducing heading in training.