Jeremy Wilson Chief Sports Reporter 20 January 2021 9:57pm GMT A leading neuropathologist has questioned whether the “expert” group which is deciding football’s on-field response to brain

injuries is being “sold under false pretences” after it emerged that it is loaded with football insiders. Telegraph Sport can reveal that half of the 14-person “concussion expert group” are

either managers, administrators or former referees, including Arsene Wenger, Pierluigi Collina and David Elleray, while every medical professional either works for or has been closely

associated with a football governing body. It is understood that only one member of the group – which also contains the chief executives of the Scotland and Ireland FAs, the vice-president

additional off-field assessment time. Brain injury charities Headway and the Jeff Astle Foundation, world players’ union FifPro and several leading neuropathologists had publicly urged

football to follow other sports with the temporary option. Dr Willie Stewart, whose research proved football’s dementia link, questioned the overall make-up of the group. “Rather than a

panel of concussion experts it appears instead to be an expert panel of football doctors and administrators and, as such, might be argued is being sold under false pretences,” he said. “And

this also might explain why football’s proposed concussion management trial is so out of touch with advances in other sports. Perhaps Ifab should come clean and rebrand the group, or at

least remove the words ‘concussion’ and ‘expert’.” Dr Magdalena Ietswaart, a cognitive neuroscientist whose research found changes to brain and memory function following heading practice,

shares Dr Stewart’s concern that football is lacking external expert advice. She also stressed the importance of assessing head injury in a calm environment. “We now know that repeated

concussion increases the chance of developing problems with brain health,” she said. “Concussion is not easy to recognise so unpressured assessment of players, as often as required, is what

is needed.” In a statement, Ifab said that its group “consists of medical (including neurological) and football experts, talking about concussion – hence the ‘concussion expert group’.” Of

Dr Nina Feddermann, who is one specialist in neurology among the 14-person group, it said that she is “a highly respected and experienced neurologist/concussion expert in the sports world”

who leads “the renowned Swiss Concussion Center”. Dr Feddermann also worked with the Fifa Medical Assessment and Research Centre between 2013 and 2016, and her colleagues at the Swiss

Concussion Center include Dr Jiri Dvorak, who spent 22 years as Fifa’s medical director. The other six medical professionals on the “concussion expert group” are all in positions at various

football organisations, including Fifa and Uefa. Having been shown the Premier League’s new protocol by The Telegraph, Dr Stewart also raised concern that players could apparently continue

as long as there were no symptoms or video evidence of a concussion. “By this protocol, players with ‘potential concussion’ are apparently permitted to stay on field if an unspecified

medical assessment suggests ‘no immediate signs of concussion’,” he said. “This is a complete contradiction of the ‘if in doubt, sit them out’ policy in football and underlines why there are

such concerns.” The Premier League has stressed that doctors will be given unlimited on-field time to make an assessment. Ifab pointed out that symptoms of concussions can be delayed by up

to 72 hours and said that a temporary change of around 10 minutes “can be counterproductive/risky in terms of player welfare”. There was also concern at the lack of concussion experts

beneath elite football.  “Amateur and youth football is usually played with no doctors who can make such an assessment, so the ‘if in doubt, take the player out approach’ is a much safer

method, applicable at all levels,” said an Ifab spokesperson.