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Heading a soccer “possible” contributed to the mind harm that was an element within the demise of former Scotland defender Gordon McQueen, a coroner has discovered.
McQueen – who was capped for Scotland 30 occasions between 1974 and 1981, and performed for each Leeds and Manchester United throughout a 16-year profession – died at his residence in North Yorkshire in June 2023, aged 70.
The reason for demise was pneumonia as he had develop into frail and bed-bound for months, the inquest in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, heard earlier this month.
That frailty was as a consequence of a mixture of vascular dementia and power traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), coroner Jon Heath stated.
The coroner gave a story conclusion on Monday, discovering that McQueen died from pneumonia as a consequence of blended vascular dementia and CTE.
He stated: “It’s possible that repetitive head impacts sustained by heading the ball whereas enjoying soccer contributed to the CTE.”
McQueen’s daughter, TV presenter Hayley McQueen, was in court docket to listen to the findings. After being requested final month, whereas giving proof at his inquest, if something in his historical past was behind his dementia, she instructed barrister Michael Rawlinson KC: “He stated: ‘Heading a soccer for all these years most likely hasn’t helped’.”
“They might simply head again out and play,” she added, referring to how gamers would resume video games regardless of struggling concussions, with recollections of her father coming back from Manchester United coaching to lie down in a darkish room with a headache.
After his demise, McQueen’s household donated his mind to Professor Willie Stewart, a marketing consultant neuropathologist on the Queen Elizabeth College Hospital, Glasgow, who discovered subsequent proof of CTE and vascular dementia.
Prof Stewart agreed with barrister Michael Rawlinson KC, for the McQueen household, that CTE “greater than minimally, negligibly or trivially” contributed to the demise, with “heading the ball” additionally contributing to CTE. His “excessive publicity” to heading a soccer was the one proof out there.
Ms McQueen stated her father was very wholesome and lively throughout his time as a participant and following his retirement, however adjustments in his persona had been observed following his sixtieth birthday.
Beforehand a really sociable and outgoing man, Ms McQueen stated her father had develop into extra withdrawn.
McQueen received a primary division title at Leeds in 1974, earlier than profitable the FA Cup at Manchester United in 1983.
5 of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning workforce (Sir Bobby Charlton, his brother Jack, Ray Wilson, Martin Peters and Nobby Stiles) have been identified with the illness, with it inflicting or contributing to their deaths.
With mounting proof that heading a ball could cause mind injury, there have been requires a ban on the approach. It was prohibited in English soccer for matches involving under-7s to under-9s in the course of the 2024-25 season.
The ban now extends to under-10s this season, with the rule to be launched at under-11s matches within the 2026-27 marketing campaign.
