Campaigner Dawn Astle has welcomed the opening of a parliamentary inquiry into the link between playing sport and long-term brain injury, saying the issue has been “swept under the carpet” for too long.

The death of Astle’s father Jeff in 2002 was determined by a coroner to be the result of a neurodegenerative condition caused by repeated heading of a ball during his professional football career.

MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee will hear evidence from a range of individuals with a connection to the issue over the coming weeks, and Astle said it had been “a long time coming”.

“I just hope really that (the MPs) leave no stone unturned,” she told the PA news agency.

“For millions of people around the world, we’re huge fans of the game. But for the player, it is just their job, and they should be afforded the same protection from known risks as anybody else in any other job.

“Just because they’re sportsmen shouldn’t mean it doesn’t matter, because it’s part of the game. That’s not acceptable when players are dying.”

The 2019 FIELD study, commissioned by the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association, found professional footballers were three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease than age-matched members of the general population.

Astle, who is currently supporting the PFA on an advisory basis, said that study would not have been conducted without the pressure her family placed on the authorities.

“This issue has been swept under the carpet for far too long,” she said.

“The FIELD study wasn’t done out of the goodness of the heart of the FA or the PFA, that study was done because my family wouldn’t let them sweep it under the carpet.

“It was my family who had the meeting with (former FA chairman) Greg Dyke and said ‘you need to be looking back – have we got a problem with our former players?’ And we clearly have.

“I suppose Greg wasn’t in charge of the FA when my dad died – (PFA chief executive) Gordon Taylor has been around forever.

“I want to know why they didn’t do enough.”

The dangers of heading were being talked about as far back as 1966 – in a pamphlet included within the Football League Review in 1966, which was included within match programmes.

Under the headline ‘Danger in Heading the Ball?’ the article began ‘Perhaps it explains a lot the allegation by a doctor that boxing isn’t the only sport that can produce ‘punchies’.

‘This man from the hospital corridors says it’s been discovered that football has its ‘punchdrunks’ – men who have headed the ball far too often’.

Astle added: “It is time for the Government to get involved. I’ve asked the PFA and Gordon what they have done in the 19 years since my dad died, I’ve asked the FA the same question.

“It’s all right Greg Dyke apologising and saying ‘we haven’t done enough’ – why didn’t you? It’s all right saying to Gordon, ‘what did you do? How many players were affected?’ He didn’t know. He still doesn’t know. Why doesn’t he? He should know.

“This isn’t a metatarsal injury or a broken leg, this is something that is killing former players at a hugely increased rate.”

The PFA has been approached for comment.

The FA says it takes the issue extremely seriously and feels it is leading the way in commissioning research into the issue and welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the inquiry.

“We have a clear and unwavering commitment, both financially and with resource, to support objective, robust and thorough research going forward,” the governing body said in a statement.

“We are collaborating closely with our independently-chaired Research Taskforce to expand our own research studies in this area. Most recently, alongside the PFA, we have issued a call for research for new independent evidence-based research into the increased risk of death from neurodegenerative disorders in former professional footballers, focusing primarily on what causes the increased risk.”

England manager Gareth Southgate is involved in one such project – the HEADING study which is being conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is supported by the FA.

Legal actions are set to be brought forward by the families of former footballers suffering with dementia in the coming months, while a letter of claim on behalf of a group of rugby union players has already been lodged with World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union.

Progressive Rugby, a lobby group calling for the urgent reform of the sport and which includes former England international James Haskell, said it welcomed the new inquiry.

“Concerns over the potential harm of prolonged contact training, short return-to-play guidelines, the need to establish a protocol of health passports and develop methods of providing long-term player welfare are the focus of Progressive Rugby,” a statement read.

“As a multi-disciplinary group, Progressive Rugby is in a unique position to provide the DCMS Committee with assistance, evidence and suggestions for future changes in rugby union to reduce the incidence and consequences of concussive and sub-concussive injuries.”

The first evidence session is due to take place next Tuesday. The Alzheimer’s Society has already confirmed that its head of research, Dr Richard Oakley, had been called as a witness, as has the chief executive of brain injury charity Headway, Peter McCabe.