‘We miss her the same every day’: Olivia Cusack on her late footballer sister Maddy

Olivia Cusack says her sister, the late Maddy Cusack, is on her mind every single day and she is determined to ensure her “legacy lives on” three years after the former England youth international midfielder’s death.

Olivia, together with family and friends of Maddy, walked 29 miles from Bramall Lane, Sheffield United’s home, to their family’s home in Horsley, near Derby, on Saturday to raise funds and awareness. Maddy’s loved ones are still enduring a “frustrating and confusing” wait for answers about the circumstances surrounding her death on 20 September 2023.

An inquest into the death of the 27-year-old Sheffield United player was adjourned again in July and has been scheduled to resume on 7 December, after fresh evidence came to light. Cusack, a former England Under-19s international, was the first player to appear in 100 matches for Sheffield United’s women’s team.

Olivia says Saturday’s walk, “Bringing Maddy Home”, was motivated by some of the evidence the inquest heard. “After the inquest we wanted to bring her home from Bramall Lane, back to our family home,” she says. “Many people know Maddy as the professional football player and the name on the back of her shirt, the number, the colours she wore, the club she was associated with.

“But I felt in the inquest it was lost that she was a person, she wasn’t an object that we were discussing. She’s a person, she’s a family member of ours [and] a person that’s sometimes been lost within the chaos surrounding her death really, so that’s the notion behind the walk. To claim her back, bring her home and protect her.”

A minute’s applause will be held before kick-off at Sunday’s Women’s Super League 2 fixture between Newcastle and Sheffield United. Discussing that anniversary, Olivia says: “We miss her the same every day, as I will on Sunday. The anniversary is always something that creeps up on us. It’s very emotional and it’s a time where we just reflect, but we do so much throughout the year so she really is at the heart of pretty much every single day. Not a day that goes by where we don’t think about her.

“There can be days when you just feel absolutely drained and you know you don’t quite know what the right thing to do is, but I think the way that we just get through it is that we remember who she was as a person. She loved her life, she loved trying new things and just enjoying life’s simple pleasures, we try and embody that on every day, not just the anniversary.

“I really do encourage people to, as difficult as it can be sometimes, share the photos, share the memories, bring her up in conversation wherever you can, talk about her, and between all of us, you know, her legacy will live on.”

The family have already endured eight full days of evidence, after the hearing belatedly began on 29 June, but the discovery of additional documents led the proceedings to be paused until December. The coroner apologised to the family for yet another delay. The case had previously been set to start being heard on 5 January 2026 after additional postponements in 2025.

“It’s been really difficult,” Olivia said of the delays. “It’s not something that any of us anticipated to happen. It’s very confusing and it can be very frustrating, the length of time it’s taken, it can be difficult to work that out and to know how you should be feeling and the process of it. However, we know that for the right outcome it has to be taken seriously. They need the time to come together and really get an outcome.

“It feels as though she can’t be at peace until it’s finished. And I do feel that’s quite upsetting to think about and to work through. It needs to come to a conclusion.”

Olivia said she would “channel Maddy’s energy” during Saturday’s 29-mile walk, when a group of about 15 family and friends travelled in the reverse direction to another fundraising walk in February 2024 from Pride Park to Bramall Lane.

This time they set off from Sheffield at 5.30am. A fundraising page for the walk had surpassed £1,100 as of Saturday afternoon. Olivia described that tally as “incredible – £1,000 is just amazing, it’s more than I ever expected. Particularly with it being Maddy’s anniversary, it’s going to be very much a mental challenge as well as a physical one, so it gives you that extra motivation to make the people who’ve donated proud.”

The money is being raised for the the Maddy Cusack Foundation, which is helping a range of causes targeting women’s and girls’ football and “letting girls be seen within sport”.

“We provided Derby County Community Trust with a series of bursaries for girls and families who struggle with the financial prospects of becoming dedicated to their football. It’s a helping hand for any child that needs that extra sort of funding, taking away the barriers that they might face.”

The foundation has also partnered with the Stockport County defender Ben Osborn’s organisation Elite Football Development, which aims to inspire young people through sport and education.

“They work with girls and boys but we sponsor the girls’ side of things, which is focused around post-16 study, and allows girls to gain qualifications alongside being able to train and live the life of a professional footballer. We were really keen to get involved in this as Maddy was really passionate about education.”

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