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 The Sport United Against Dementia (SUAD) campaign aims to increase
the awareness and capacity of its support services, and is backed by
soccer greats such as Geoff Hurst and Denis Law as well as former
cricketers Andrew Flintoff and Shane Warne.
"Sport is able to draw attention to an issue or cause like nothing
else can. Sport United Against Dementia is fortunate to have
household name talent getting behind our work for this crucial
campaign," SUAD chair Richard Thompson said.
Manchester United and Scotland great Law, who was diagnosed with
Alzheimer's and vascular dementia last month, is part of the
campaign and, along with his family, has raised over 40,000 pounds
($54,596.00) for the charity.
Hurst, England's hat-trick hero from the 1966 World Cup final,
backed the campaign after many of his international team mates,
including Nobby Stiles and Jack and Bobby Charlton, were diagnosed
with the condition.
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 The campaign will fund research
into the causes and risk factors of dementia,
including a study with elite rugby players and
an informal pilot study with top soccer players.
Former England rugby internationals Ben Kay and
Martin Bayfield are involved in the study, which
will look at whether elite rugby players show
early warning signs of dementia.
Head injuries, concussions and their potential
long-term health impact have been in the
spotlight in rugby since former players filed a
class-action lawsuit against governing bodies,
including World Rugby, alleging a failure to
minimise risks.
($1 = 0.7327 pounds)
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru;
Editing by Ken Ferris)
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