Mark O'Hara: St Mirren midfielder welcomes heading ban after two concussions 'worry'

St Mirren midfielder Mark O'Hara has welcomed new Scottish FA restrictions over heading after having "worries" over two career concussions.

The governing body has banned professional players from heading the ball in training the day before - and the day after - a game.

O'Hara has had two concussions within two years.

"It's something I do worry about going forward - the repercussions of it," the 26-year-old told BBC Scotland.

"I think any moves like that going forward are going to benefit us and obviously more research will be done in the coming years, but I think it is a good step forward and hopefully there's more of them to come."

O'Hara says he "ended up missing three or four months in total with it" after a clash of heads during a game against his current side for Motherwell in 2021.

"I came back in and I still wasn't right - I was having bad headaches all the time and I couldn't get myself right," he recalled.

"I went to see a neurologist, the doctors and stuff like that and I had a scan - and everything was all good. But, with concussion, you can have ongoing things for months and, when I overcame it, it was a relief because I was really worried."

'It does play on your mind'

O'Hara's second incident came in July, this time playing for St Mirren against Motherwell, in the first Scottish Premiership game of this season.

"I had to go off at half time after a clash of heads," he said. "It got to half time and I was chalk white and I wasn't feeling well.

"This year, we handled the protocol very smoothly and I was feeling fine after a week or so."

However, O'Hara is delighted to see the latest SFA training restrictions come in, with Glasgow University research having shown that former footballers are three-and-a-half times more likely to die from brain disease.

"It has been something that's affected my career and it's obviously something I'm concerned about," he said.

"It does play on your mind and I've done a lot of personal research to maybe prevent things down the line. It's definitely on your mind what could happen from constant heading."