England and Australia wear nameless shirts to raise Alzheimer's awareness

By Matias Grez, CNN

Updated 1054 GMT (1854 HKT) April 12, 2023

Some of England's players wore nameless shirts for Tuesday's match against Australia.

(CNN)A third of players from the England and Australia teams took to the pitch for Tuesday's international friendly without names on the back of their shirts.

It was an unusual sight for a professional game but one that carried significance, as both teams sought to raise awareness for UK charity Alzheimer's Society.The initiative was designed to show that one in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia, which the Alzheimer's Society describes as «a set of symptoms that over time can affect memory, problem-solving, language and behaviour,» with Alzheimer's disease being the most common type of dementia.Different players wore the nameless shirts in the second half, which was designed to emphasize «the confusion and memory loss often experienced by those living with dementia,» England's national team said.Australia's players joined England in raising awareness of the Alzheimer's Society.The shirts will be auctioned to raise money for the Alzheimer's Society.Read More«We hope by making this simple alternation with this gesture and getting both teams to show a sign of solidarity, we can put an important spotlight on just how much dementia can devastate lives,» Kate Lee, Alzheimer's Society CEO, said.These young female athletes died by suicide. They all had head injuries in common«I hope it makes a massive impact from the stands to screens, inspiring people to donate so we can reach even more people with our life-changing support, which helps people through some of the hardest and most frightening times.»A recent Swedish study found that male professional footballers