Reliability of self-reported career histories reported by former professional association football players included in the health and ageing data iN the game of football (HEADING) study

Aim
To assess the ability of former professional association football players in England to recall their playing careers. Methods Self-reported data regarding playing careers were available from former professional football players participating in the Health and Ageing Data IN the Game of football (HEADING) study. We compared the self-reported data from 141 participants regarding the teams, positions, periods, and leagues they played for against the data available in publicly available records, compiled with the assistance of the English Professional Footballers’ Association.

Results
Self-reporting of career histories occurred a mean of 28.5 years since the players had their last competitive season. Overall, 20 discrepancies between self-reported and register-based data were observed in the career histories of 18 (12.8%) individual players. This is in line with data from earlier reliability studies on the self-reporting of occupational histories. The most common error observed was incorrect recording of years of play in certain clubs, occurring in 9 instances. Missing teams in self-reports were observed in another 8 cases.

Conclusion
The results suggest that former professional association football players can provide plausible information over long periods regarding the general characteristics of their professional career. This information could form the basis for a reliable exposure assessment within epidemiological analyses. Further work is required to assess recall of the amount of heading and other head impacts during training and play.