Matt Maher: The authorities finally wake up thanks to the Astles

Joint funded by the Premier League and the Professional Footballers’ Association, it will be immediately available to the families of those players for help with the considerable care costs.

It is a notable victory for campaigners, spearheaded by the Jeff Astle Foundation, set up by Laraine and daughters Dawn and Claire following Jeff’s death from dementia in 2002, aged just 59.

It is the latest victory for their continued persistence over now more than two decades, which has pushed the links between football and neurological disease from the fringes and into the spotlight.

There may be no better example than the PFA’s involvement in the fund. For years under former chief executive Gordon Taylor, the organisation paid mere lip service to the game’s dementia crisis but things have changed to the extent Dawn Astle now leads the union’s new dementia department. Establishing a fund in which football’s stakeholders could help families in need was the top priority.

This week’s news, therefore, is a big step but far from the last one. Among the Astle Foundation’s major aims is getting the government to recognise dementia in football as an industrial disease, making it easier for families to gain compensation.

There is also the fact the fund, while welcome, is not yet supported by the EFL or FA. According to Judith Gates, the founder of the charity Head Safe Football, the £1million will only be sufficient to meet the care costs of between 10 and 12 families a year.

“This should be seen as the kick-off in addressing the problem,” she explained. “There are 89 more minutes of play – and funding – required before the issue is appropriately addressed.”

Unquestionably, there is much more to be done in addressing an issue the importance of which will only become greater in the years ahead.

Yet finally, the football authorities have woken up. For that, the Astle family are largely to thank.