Soccer: fast lane to dementia?

When I was 8 years old I would ferociously head heavy old leather soccer balls to the point of getting the nickname "Bullethead Smith", and this continued on as I was playing in central defense throughout my teens. After that the balls became lighter, I would say, and nowadays when I head a ball there is no shock whatsoever. But, as that fish in the restaurant aquarium tank in the Monty Python movie "Meaning of Life" said, when it saw its friend being eaten, reports like this "make you sort of think, don't they"?