Hayley McQueen and Gordon McQueen: Coroner Points to Heading as a Likely Factor in Brain Injury Finding
Hayley McQueen is again in the public eye this week as the inquest findings into the death of her father, former Scotland defender Gordon McQueen, put renewed focus on the long-running debate over repetitive head impacts in football. The case is resonating well beyond one family, raising questions about how the sport protects players across eras and what meaningful support looks like once careers end.
Inquest finding links repeated head impacts to chronic brain disease
A coroner concluded this week that heading a football was likely to have contributed to the brain injury that played a role in Gordon McQueen’s death. The inquest heard that McQueen died in June 2023 at age 70, with pneumonia recorded as the immediate cause after a period of severe frailty.
The coroner’s conclusion linked that frailty to a combination of mixed vascular dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, often called CTE, a degenerative brain condition associated with repeated head impacts. The finding stated that repetitive head impacts sustained through heading the ball likely contributed to the CTE.
Key terms have not been disclosed publicly around the full medical timeline beyond the elements discussed at the inquest. A full public timeline has not been released for every stage of care in the months leading up to his death.
Hayley McQueen’s role highlights the family’s push for change
Hayley McQueen attended the proceedings and has been central to explaining why the findings matter beyond a single headline. In evidence, she described a culture in which players often continued after knocks that today would typically trigger a stoppage, assessment, and caution. She also referenced the day-to-day realities of a long career in the era before modern concussion protocols became widespread, including headaches and the expectation to push through.
After the finding, the family’s position has been clear in broad terms: they want stronger safeguards in the sport and clearer accountability from institutions that influence how the game is played and how former players are supported. They have also emphasized education, particularly for younger players and coaches, so that head impacts are not treated as an unavoidable background detail of football.
Some specifics have not been publicly clarified about the precise number of concussive incidents McQueen experienced during his playing career. Further specifics were not immediately available about any new policy commitments tied directly to this case.
How these cases are evaluated and why the evidence can be complex
An inquest is designed to establish who died, and when, where, and how the death occurred, rather than to decide fault in the way a civil trial might. In cases involving suspected brain disease linked to sport, the picture usually combines clinical history with neuropathology, where specialists examine brain tissue after death for markers consistent with conditions such as CTE. That evidence is then weighed alongside medical records and testimony about symptoms, exposure history, and functional decline.
CTE itself is not diagnosed in living patients with certainty using a single definitive clinical test. Instead, diagnosis is typically confirmed through post-mortem examination by experts trained to identify characteristic patterns of damage. Because players’ exposure can vary widely by position, era, training methods, and medical oversight, inquests often rely on both medical findings and contextual evidence about the person’s football life, including the kinds of impacts they were likely to have accumulated over time.
What the finding could mean for players, clubs, and the sport
The immediate impact is felt by two groups most directly: former players and their families. For former players, findings like this can validate concerns about symptoms that may have been dismissed or minimized for years. For families, it underscores the emotional and financial toll that long-term care can bring, especially when support systems are fragmented or difficult to access.
There are also knock-on effects for current professionals and youth players. Current professionals may see intensified scrutiny around concussion management, training intensity, and return-to-play decisions. Youth players and parents may push harder for practical limits on heading volume, clearer coaching guidance, and more consistent medical oversight at grassroots levels.
Mechanically, meaningful change in football tends to come through a few identifiable levers: updated medical protocols, mandated education for coaches and referees, competition rules that allow safer substitutions after suspected concussion, and training guidance that reduces avoidable exposure. Any one lever helps, but the strongest protections typically combine rules, enforcement, and culture change so that safety does not depend on individual toughness or informal judgment.
The next milestone will be any formal response from football authorities and player-representation bodies, such as an announced rule trial related to concussion substitutions, an updated heading guidance package, or a new support framework for former players affected by neurodegenerative disease.
