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July 22, 2026 \u2014 12:00pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n For as long as he can remember, former Socceroos captain Paul Wade<\/a> has had a gift.<\/p>\n When he was 11 years old, newly arrived in Australia from England, he realised he could head a football harder, cleaner and more accurately than the other kids he would play with.<\/p>\n \u201cGoalkeepers always kicked the ball into the air back then. Nobody threw it out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd because I was in midfield, I was probably one of the very few that was willing to head it. Right from the start, I knew I could head a ball \u2013 even if it was on the top of my head, where it hurt.<\/p>\n \u201cI just felt that this was something I can do. And as I got older, the more I did it, the more accurate I got with my headers, the more people went: \u2018Yeah, Wadey can head a ball. This is really cool.\u2019 And then I just loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n Wade would go on to win 84 caps for the Socceroos<\/a>, wear the captain\u2019s armband more often than almost anyone, and build a reputation as one of Australia\u2019s most fearless competitors. He retired in 1997, but continued to endear himself to generations of Australian soccer fans through his work in the media, becoming one of the game\u2019s most recognisable faces and voices.<\/p>\n Not that he thought much about it at the time, but Wade\u2019s willingness to put his body \u2013 and his head \u2013 on the line was the foundation for his legendary career. Every time he was split open by a stray elbow in an aerial contest, Wade could feel the adulation from supporters, teammates and coaches, and it made him walk taller.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a badge of honour. And I fed off it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey cheered for me and they had respect for me when I went back into the dressing rooms. And for the rest of my career, I didn\u2019t mind getting it done: stitches at halftime, coming off concussed and then saying, \u2018Right boss, I\u2019m ready to go back on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Wade, now 64, cites the motto that he and so many footballers of his vintage used to live by: never let them know you\u2019re hurt.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what kept me out there,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it didn\u2019t matter what happened, who hit me, if I fell on somebody \u2013 I didn\u2019t make it an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n Little did he know his greatest attribute would cause him so much grief later in life.<\/p>\n These days, Wade\u2019s memory is not as good as it once was. It has never been great: he was diagnosed with epilepsy during his playing career and underwent brain surgery in 2002 to remove a scarred section of his temporal lobe, and that history made it easier for him to dismiss the concerns of those closest to him whenever he forgot an appointment, or couldn\u2019t find something he had put down only 30 seconds earlier.<\/p>\n Related Article But there were also changes to Wade\u2019s behaviour which didn\u2019t track with the person they knew. Eventually, those changes became serious enough for his family and friends to intervene.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were a couple of incidents where Paul\u2019s behaviour was not appropriate,\u201d said his wife, Val.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when I say not appropriate \u2026 he spoke to people and did things that were just not OK. We nearly lost a friendship over it. That was the turning point. That\u2019s when we sat him down and said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to go and see a neurologist. There\u2019s something wrong, this is not you.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt still took probably a year to get him to do it, because he still didn\u2019t think that there was something wrong with him, and he just kept putting it off.\u201d<\/p>\n After speaking to his GP, Val began researching his symptoms and saw signs consistent with CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease associated with prolonged exposure to repeated head impacts.<\/p>\n Definitive CTE diagnoses can only be made after death. But late last year, Wade was told by Dr Rowena Mobbs, one of Australia\u2019s leading concussion experts, that he had probable CTE \u2013 the highest level of diagnostic certainty possible in a living patient, based on his history as a footballer, neurological symptoms and specialist assessment.<\/p>\n Wade can\u2019t point to a single, major concussion incident which changed everything for him, like his former Socceroos teammate Warren Spink<\/a>. But CTE is also associated with prolonged exposure to repeated head impacts, including sub-concussive blows that may not produce immediate or obvious symptoms. In football, that has focused attention on the cumulative effect of heading the ball over the course of a career, or lifetime.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I found out, the girls [his daughters] were very concerned. I said, \u2018Don\u2019t worry. I haven\u2019t changed. It\u2019s just that they\u2019ve given me a headline,\u2019\u201d Wade said.<\/p>\n![\"Paul](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6e222dca1f5509342af62ba974c5d40d85398749.jpeg\")
Paul Wade at his home on the Central Coast.Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n![\"Diego](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/44df4f21a85ce1488fbcb9968548714a4614b77f.jpeg\")
Diego Maradona (right) and Socceroos captain Paul Wade walk onto the Sydney Football Stadium for the first leg of a World Cup qualifying tie in 1993.Getty<\/p>\n![\"Former](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d908b86ebc3fd339409f7fa60dee1ee7f2e1e398.jpeg\")
Former Socceroos captain Paul Wade has been diagnosed with probable CTE.Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n![\"For](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9ff9b646094d7cc09a89026b8611a44a5c05a499.jpeg\")
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