Remembering Maddy Cusack: More Than a Footballer

On a quiet bench in a Derbyshire park, the fight to remember the real Maddy Cusack goes on.

The seat, tucked into Scargill Park in West Hallam where she grew up, carries her name. Her sister Olivia and cousin Emily sit there often, talking about the girl they still call their sunshine, the one who laughed loudest and pushed the boundaries.

To Olivia, Maddy was the big sister she "looked up to my whole life". To Emily, she was the mischief-maker who "used to get us in trouble with my dad". The ringleader. The one with the ideas. The one Emily says would dream up the plan, then leave her to take the blame.

Three years on from Maddy’s death, those memories are what her family cling to. They are also what they fear is being lost.

A family still waiting

Maddy Cusack, a midfielder for Sheffield United, was 27 when she was found unconscious at her home in Derbyshire on 20 September 2023. The inquest into her death began in June and was expected to conclude in July.

It did not.

After a little under two weeks of evidence, the coroner adjourned proceedings. The inquest has been paused for months while Sheffield United searches for documents linked to her medical records. The delay means the family now face waiting until at least December to hear more evidence.

For Olivia, the strain is relentless.

She calls the wait "extremely overwhelming". The days in court, and now the days in limbo, are "very emotional" and "very difficult". The process has already been delayed twice. Each pause stretches out the pain.

During the hearings so far, the inquest has examined Maddy’s mental health and her time at Sheffield United. Evidence has included testimony from her mum, describing how Maddy had struggled before her death and had problems with coach Jonathan Morgan.

Morgan told the inquest he had "no concerns" about their relationship and insisted "things have not been portrayed factually or correctly with how she was feeling".

‘More than the number on the back of her shirt’

Inside the courtroom, every word is weighed. Outside, on that memorial bench, Olivia feels something vital has slipped through the cracks.

As her sister’s relationships and wellbeing were dissected, Olivia began to feel that Maddy herself – the person beyond the dressing room and the matchday squad list – was fading from view.

"It dawned on me that when people were asked questions about Maddy and to share what she was like as a person, they were all very similar answers and quite focused on the football side of her," she says.

That hurt. Not because football didn’t matter to Maddy – it did, deeply – but because it was only one part of who she was.

"People don't seem to know her like we did - of course they don't," Olivia says. "But I wanted to introduce a different side of Maddy.

"I wanted them to know more than the number on the back of her shirt or the colours that she wore on the football pitch."

So she keeps talking. Keeps telling stories. Keeps filling in the gaps the legal process can’t reach.

Birthdays spent at a bench

Scargill Park is where the girls grew up. It is where the bench now stands, and where Emily comes when the dates on the calendar start to sting.

Both she and Maddy had birthdays at the end of October. They always planned to spend them together. Those plans are gone. The ritual remains.

"Now I just come here," Emily says.

She laughs as she remembers Maddy’s childhood schemes. The dares. The pranks. "She used to get us in trouble with my dad when we were younger. It was always her idea then I'd take the blame for it."

In the inquest room, the focus is on the darkest period of Maddy’s life. On this bench, her family fight to drag the spotlight back towards the light.

A legacy on the move

Grief has not been quiet for the Cusack family. Olivia, along with other relatives, has thrown herself into campaigning since Maddy’s death, determined that her story will not end with a court file.

They have created a foundation in Maddy’s name to support aspiring female footballers. It is both a tribute and a lifeline.

"The foundation keeps me going," Olivia says. "It's been a real lifeline to be able to continue her story."

This weekend, that story was taken on the road. On Saturday, Olivia organised a walk from Bramall Lane – Sheffield United’s ground – to near Derby, where Maddy lived. Almost 30 miles on foot. A long, physical line between the club and the home that framed so much of her life.

"The aim with the walk is just to do her proud," Olivia says. "Maddy would love that we were all challenging ourselves."

Sheffield United ordered an external report shortly after Maddy’s death. It cleared the club of wrongdoing. A second investigation, commissioned by the Football Association in early 2024, will not be published until the inquest finally concludes.

So the official verdicts wait on shelves and in inboxes. The family waits too.

Keeping her alive in the telling

What they can control is this: her name, and how often they say it.

"She will only ever remain a part of this life if we keep saying her name and keep remembering her," Olivia says.

Some days that feels almost impossible. There are mornings when the weight of it all pins her to the bed, when the idea of stepping outside, let alone talking about Maddy in public, feels unbearable.

"And as painful as that can be on days where you want to forget and you just want to stay in bed all day and not face the world," she says, "I try and make a conscious effort to keep saying her name and keep her living alongside us ultimately."

The inquest will resume. Reports will be released. Judgements will be written.

On a bench in a small Derbyshire park, a different kind of verdict is being delivered every day: that Maddy Cusack was more than a case file, more than a shirt number, more than a headline.

Her family intend to make sure the game never forgets it.