Roy Heaney enjoyed a career in professional sport but he believes it has had a devastating impact on his life
At the age of 15, Roy Heaney had the world at his feet. Growing up on Park Road, Dingle, Roy had the same dream as thousands of kids across this city – he wanted to be a professional footballer. That dream was about to become a reality.
A quick and strong full-back, Roy played for Liverpool Schoolboys from 11 to 15 – winning the schools cup at Anfield during that time. His performances caught the eye of Everton and West Bromwich Albion, but his beloved Liverpool made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
From his home in Crosby, Roy, now 64, told the ECHO: “Since the age of five, I knew I was going to become a professional footballer. That’s all I wanted to do and nothing was going to stop me from getting there.
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“Liverpool was the epitome. I got there, pulled on the red shirt and the first season I was there, I was really lucky.
“There were three of us who were selected to train with the first team as 15-year-olds. We were there right through pre-season and it was an amazing experience. That was the 1975/76 season, so you had Keegan, Toshack, Tommy Smith – who was my idol.”
Sadly for Roy, he suffered an injury which curtailed his time at Anfield. It set a trend that would continue through his career.
He explained: “My first game for Liverpool Reserves was against Tranmere in pre-season. Unfortunately after about 15 minutes I broke my leg. It was a bad break, the season had just started but that was it, I thought my career was over.
“But Liverpool were great. The gaffer came down and that was unbelievable. I remember after the injury I was going down to the operating theatre and then Bob Paisley showed up.
“He patted me on the head as I was going down for surgery and he said: ‘Keep your chin up son and we’ll see you back at Anfield‘. They were great, they supported me and I was at Melwood most days trying to get fit, trying to get my leg back to a standard where I could play football again.”
Liverpool decided that Roy would not get back to the required level and didn’t offer him an apprenticeship. He was later signed by Bolton Wanderers, where he spent several seasons, but the injuries kept coming.
Roy said: “I was supposed to make my debut against Everton in the league but I broke my jaw. I didn’t get to do that, I was on the bench a few times, I got really frustrated. I had a few head injuries and I was making some pretty daft decisions in my life.”
A 21-year-old Roy found himself changing codes. Though he had not played the sport before, Wigan Rugby League club believed Roy’s pace and strength would make him a good winger and he was offered a contract after a trial in which he scored two tries against Warrington.
It went well for Roy but a management change in his second season meant that he found himself transferred to Salford. Another injury brought his career in top-level sport to an end.
“I was knocked unconscious and my cruciate ligaments went”, said Roy. “I received a bad blow – I got a bad pass, picked it up off the floor and went to crash in at the corner.
“Three of them came across and just went straight into me. It was a bit of a sticky pitch, so my leg stuck in the mud and all my weight went to the right and the knee just detached.”
After surgery, a brief spell back in football as a player manager in New Zealand followed. But Roy soon returned to Liverpool and worked as a social worker and ran a Preston pub before retiring.
‘I feel as if I’ve lost the person I married’
Roy believes his sporting career has had a devastating impact on his life. He explained: “At that point (working in the pub), I was really struggling with mood, perception and concentration. I had memory lapses. It was quite mild then but that carried on.
“I had issues with my relationship and I couldn’t really cope with changes and had mood issues, memory problems. They were really complicated issues that were going on – I didn’t feel like the same person. I was really experiencing personality disorders and didn’t know what it was.”
In 2018, a psychiatrist told Roy that he may have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a brain condition believed to be linked to blows to the head. Eight months ago, he was diagnosed with early-onset dementia and was told by a neurologist last week that he likely has Alzheimer’s disease and CTE.
For Roy, there is no doubt this is the result of playing sport at the top level. He recounted a number of collisions from his career – being knocked unconscious at 11, a broken nose and fractured Orbis in training, colliding with the post and being knocked out in the Youth Cup, as well as two clashes in one game.
He explained: “The worst one was when I was playing for Bolton against Leeds when I was about 19. I went in for a challenge, won the ball and I lost track of where the winger went.
“He went up in the air, came down and landed with both feet on my head. Again, I was knocked unconscious, blood was pouring from my head. I went in, got stitched up and was back out on the pitch.
“As a young man you just get on with it. Especially then – it was my job, I had a young family, I was desperate to get in the first team. You’re desperate to get out and play. They (the authorities) should have known better but that’s just the way things were sadly.
“In the same game, I went up for a header and the centre forward came across me with the elbow – it happened a lot in those days. I went out cold and came to in the changing room. These concussions were quite bad, they were significant.
“So all these concussions and sub-concussions were obviously building up. I went into Rugby League and in the four years I played that sport I had five broken noses, countless concussions, countless times where you are shaking your head, you’ve got the ringing in your ears.
“But again, it was just smelling salts, sponge, get up and get on with it. That’s how we were treated as professional athletes.”
It is not just these collisions and the lack of sophistication of treatment that Roy believes has caused his condition, though. He said: “People think it’s the massive head injuries – of which I’ve had many – but it’s not them. It’s been the heading of the ball for such a long period of time.”
Roy said his diagnosis has affected his relationship with his wife Debbie and their three daughters. Devastatingly, he has been told that he likely has between eight years and a decade to live.
“My understanding of things around me has changed completely – I get the wrong end of the stick, I misjudge things, my concentration levels have gone”, he said. “Deb leaves me a task to do and it’s just gone. She’ll come back from work and then she comes home and she’s got the fallout of what’s going on with me – emotionally as well as practically.
“Then she’s got to manage everything that goes on in the family as well. It’s tough for Deb, but without her I know I wouldn’t be here.”
The impact on Debbie has been stark. Roy explained: “She said to the psychiatrist the other day: ‘I feel as if I’ve lost the person I married – Roy was an outgoing, confident, intelligent human being. That confidence has gone, he doesn’t leave the house, he’s a completely different person with the anxiety, depression, low moods’.
“The memory issues are massive. I can remember back to when I was a child but I couldn’t tell you what happened yesterday or the day before a week before.
“My short-term memory has been absolutely destroyed and it causes massive issues in the family, because there are times when I’ve forgotten all about things. My mood swings and they’re the hard parts.
“I’ve had some pretty dark thoughts over the last few years – like I’m just a burden and it would probably be better off if I wasn’t here. That’s how I’ve felt.”
‘They did not look after us’
Roy is part of a class action lawsuit brought by solicitors Rylands Garth, who are representing former footballers and rugby players against governing bodies such as the Football Association and the Rugby Football League. The firm, like Roy, believes that the governing bodies failed to adequately protect players from, and properly inform them about, concussions and sub-concussions.
In America, a 2023 Boston University report found CTE in 345 of 376 studied dead NFL players – a rate of 91.7%. The same university found CTE in one of 164 brains of other men and women – the one case was a former college football player.
In 2016, the NFL acknowledged a link between playing the sport and being diagnosed with CTE. Roy believes it has set a precedent and does not believe sportspeople of his era were properly cared for.
He said: “The big issue that we’re talking about here is that CTE is not new” and added: “They did not look after us. I knew, one day, that I was going to wake up with issues with arthritis, I’ve had a knee replacement.
“That was part and parcel of the game and when you play sport at that level for so long, you expect it. I didn’t expect this.”
One of the hardest parts of Roy’s condition is coming to terms with his own mortality. However, he said that has made him even more determined to highlight what he has been through.
He said: “I always thought that I would live until I was 90 because I was so physically fit. That’s not going to happen. I’ve probably got eight to ten years left.
“I was lucky in a sense. I had two concussions in a game – that could have killed me then. I think my mentality – I’m a Scouser and I’m tough – you just pushed yourself through the limit, which I did time and time again. But we were not protected.”
A Football Association spokesperson told the ECHO: “We are not able to comment on ongoing legal proceedings. We continue to take a leading role in reviewing and improving the safety of our game.
“This includes investing in and supporting multiple projects in order to gain a greater understanding of this area through objective, robust and thorough research. We have already taken many proactive steps to review and address potential risk factors which may be associated with football whilst ongoing research continues in this area including liaising with the international governing bodies.”
A Rugby Football League spokesperson told the ECHO: “The RFL takes player safety and welfare extremely seriously, and it has been desperately sad to hear of any players’ difficulties. Rugby League is a contact sport and, while there is an element of risk to playing any sport, player welfare is always of paramount importance.
“As a result of scientific knowledge, the sport of Rugby League continues to improve and develop its approach to concussion, head injury assessment, education, management and prevention across the whole game. We will continue to use medical evidence and research to reinforce and enhance our approach.
“Support to former professional players is always available from Rugby League’s charity partner RL Cares.”
