A number of Irish League legends are aiming to increase awareness and raise crucial funds to battle dementia with ‘Players Against Dementia’ hosting their launch event at Windsor Park on Saturday afternoon.

The initiative, which has partnered with the Professional Footballers Association Northern Ireland (PFANI), is a dedicated campaign focused on supporting former footballers and their families affected by dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions.

Ahead of Saturday’s Premiership clash between Linfield and Carrick Rangers, over 150 people, including Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, were present at a lunch in Belfast with guest speakers and an auction hosted to raise money for the important cause.

Studies have shown that former professional footballers are 3.5 times more likely to die from dementia or other neurodegenerative diseases compared to the general population.

placeholder image — NIFL CEO Gerard Lawlor and Irish FA President Conrad Kirkwood were amongst attendees. (Photo by PFA NI)

Former Irish League players, including Jim Lemon, Frankie Moffatt and Alan Fraser, have now came together to tackle the challenges posed by dementia and outlined their ambitions for the future.

"For so long it has been ignored within football, especially the Irish League,” ex-Linfield star Fraser told BBC Sportsound. “We had a great turnout with 15 tables and the Health Minister is here, Stephen Ferris the former rugby player, and it's such a good turnout.

"It's to raise awareness about this awful disease and let people know that we're concerned about it. I go to visit Isaac Andrews, who I played with, Billy Sinclair, and it's so sad to see how they are now after a lifetime of enjoying such a lovely sport.

"It's about the awareness and people need to know how serious it is."

Former Coleraine player Moffatt has been involved with the campaign for over a year and feels more can be done to highlight the issue of dementia across the Irish League.

It’s hoped every club will appoint champions for the cause with one former and current player assigned to organise fundraising events to help raise money in the battle against the disease.

"I think at this point in time, no, and that's why we're creating this awareness and get teams organised to spread awareness in clubs across Northern Ireland and create momentum into the programme where each club will run fundraising events to put money into the efforts we have for DementiaNI,” said Moffatt. “The idea is to create champions within each club, one being a former player and one being a current player, and for them to organise within their club one fundraising event per year.

"Those funds would come into Players Against Dementia and distributed out to support former players and their families who have been impacted by this disease.

"We hope to be able to raise enough money to create an early screening programme that will allow protection to be added for not only current players, but the future generations.

"It's about helping to increase awareness and taking away a potential stigma or people being embarrassed about having this disease. Whatever we can do so that it can be highlighted early and have resources put in place to help those families and people suffering."