When Manchester United star Raphael Varane opened up about concussion, it had repercussions more than 1,000 miles away in Gibraltar.
The British Overseas Territory, on the southern tip of Europe, has its own relationship with United. Top-flight club Manchester 62 was established there more than half a century ago under the name Manchester United FC - with the blessing of legendary Old Trafford boss Sir Matt Busby - and qualified for the Gibraltar League's championship group this season.
Manchester 62 also see themselves as trailblazers when it comes to concussion research in football. Club president Michael Anton Monsour describes himself as an "advocate" for research into links between concussion and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and the club are believed to be the first ever top-flight European side to line up with all 10 outfield players wearing protective headbands aimed at reducing concussion risk.
It has been a tough time for the club financially, with fears for its long-term future, but in April they received the funding required to continue. Speaking to Mirror Football days before the future of the club was secured, Monsour hailed Varane for his willingness to speak up, encouraging the defender to head to Iberia by way of thanks.
"In the end, my goal is to save lives and make sure Raphael's son is playing the sport he loves and with less risk of his future health," Monsour says. "And that means more than anything to me, so Raphael, really, we were shocked when we saw it and it was a really powerful thing, and it may be what saves this club.
"I'd love to play Manchester United one day and hopefully they'll be wearing headgear too, at least Raphael. I've got to send him a headband, give him the opportunity if he wants to give it a shot."
The headband approach itself stems from Monsour's background in senior living and memory care. He explains he has been to "More funerals than I think anyone at 41 should ever have to be at", prompting his push to make a difference.
"We were all fighting a losing battle with Alzheimer's and dementia and I just wanted to give the world a chance, especially people who are suffering from this, just a win in some capacity," he said. "To know a team is out there fighting for them and for respect for what these healthcare workers do and what these families suffer for. "
Speaking to L'Equipe in early April, Varane called for players to take concussion more seriously after his own experiences, including with France at the 2014 World Cup and United this season. "I don't know if I will live to be 100, but I know that I have damaged my body,” the former Real Madrid star said.
“During a match, I performed a series of headers and the days that followed, I felt abnormal fatigue as well as severe eye fatigue, and I reported to the staff that I was not fit to play," he revealed. "They strongly recommended that I not play, I took a test from a doctor, the results of which I passed on to the staff, which meant that I did not play the following match. And when I felt better, I started training again.
“But if I hadn't asked to take these tests, I probably would have been lined up a few days later. And to be honest, I still feel bad that I didn't play the next game because of a migraine."
What it means to take concussion more seriously will vary from one person to the next, but for Monsour, it involves protective headbands from Unequal Technologies. It also involves a partnership with the Concussion Legacy Foundation, which conducts research into sports concussion and CTE, and Manchester 62's journey is covered in the documentary 'More Than A Game'.
"We want FIFA and UEFA to finally look at this and go 'you know what, maybe we should try this protective headgear, maybe we should try to protect players' brains as much as we do their shins', because it's ridiculous," Monsour says. "Why can't we push forward, that's just the reality.
"Playing through an injury is normal, I get it, but a brain injury is not something you play through, there's no reason to," he adds. "The idea of the headbands, I don't think the headbands are 100 per cent preventing but they're reducing the effects, and by us being able to case study it and improve it, companies like Unequal Technologies who do the headgear, we can provide additional studies and an additional push for funding that can allow that headgear to become even more effective.
"If it's 72, 73 per cent removing the risk then maybe with the right funding and research we can push it up to being 85 or 90 per cent. It's better than nothing."
Monsour is the first to admit the efforts to win people over to the headbands hasn't always been easy. While some players instantly "got it" when it came to the protection, others weren't as quick to do so, while there was also scepticism at the mere idea of a foreigner arriving at the club with unconventional ideas.
"I think people thought I was an owner of the headgear company trying to make money [but] I'm an advocate, when I believe in something I go for it and fight for it," he says. "It was a learning lesson in transparency that needed to be clarified throughout.
"There was a commitment [from certain players], they understood what it was about," he adds. "It was an interesting dynamic - you're going to get two kinds of players, the ones who get it and the ones who are like 'come on, what is this' and that's understandable, we're working on it."
He has also shed light on conversations with the Concussion Legacy Foundation where he learned about research into head injuries potentially increasing the chances of other muscle or bone injury. "So players want to be healthy, maybe protecting their brain can reduce other injuries they can get on the pitch, giving them more playing time," he says. "So it's little things, it all connects, it's just getting everyone to wake up and realise this is real, let's just try addressing this and seeing if it can't improve their everyday life.
"Because there's nothing worse than seeing someone suffering from dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or the biggest elephant in the room in all of this. We talk about the mental health of football players around the world, and one of the actual symptoms of cte is suicidal ideation, anxiety, depression. You think this would be the only thing that really matters from a health perspective, coming from FIFA or UEFA."
Since speaking to Mirror Football - and jokingly asking for Sir Jim Ratcliffe's phone number - Monsour and Manchester 62 have secured the investment they need to keep going after the withdrawal of earlier investors had left the club in trouble. Before that arrived, though, he was candid in recognising Varane's words - and the reopening of conversations around concussion - "may be what saves this club".
"Now that we've partnered with Concussion Legacy Foundation, who have 1600 of the world's 1800 brains being assessed for CTE, they're the top of the top, we become in essence the opportunity to be that laboratory on the pitch," Monsour says.
"The level of data, and specific data because we'd be the only ones doing it, is exponential. When we talk to investors who are just people in football it's one thing, when we talk to healthcare it's the other, and it's hard for them to see both when both are quite significant"
From a personal level, though, Monsour is quick to describe his efforts as a kind of penance. His work in senior living and memory care has allowed him to interact with people in the early stages of dementia, making friendships which often last until the ends of these people's lives.
"Everybody who works in that field, you're fighting a losing battle," he admits. "There's no cure, and when there's no cure you know what the end of the road is, and we're just trying to give them a win in some capacity and keep that awareness going, keep the funding increasing and finding a way."
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