By Tim Kevan, Barrister, 1 Temple Gardens1

With all the recent news coverage over the likes of Roy Keane and Dennis Wise it is important to remember that these are merely the very high profile tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of injuries involving sports or sportsmen. For instance, it has been estimated that there are between six and nineteen million new sporting injuries in this country each year costing some £500 million in treatment and absence from work2. In a new book, Sports Personal Injuries, Kevan, Adamson and Cottrell3 point to the numerous potential liabilities facing sportsmen and their clubs. This coupled with the growth of conditional fees means that the number of sports injury cases in this country is only likely to increase.

Examples of such liabilities come in many forms: player on player (eg an award estimated to be in the region of £250,000 was made to a former Stockport County player Brian McCord when he broke his leg in a tackle); referees (eg, a rugby referee was found liable for injuries suffered in collapsed scrum); governing bodies (eg, when the British Boxing Board of Control was found liable to Michael Watson for failing to provide sufficient medical resources to Michael Watson). Clubs may be liable for defects in their premises, schools for negligent coaching. The list goes on and applies equally to amateur as to professional sportsmen and women. For example, an uninsured amateur footballer could be bankrupted through a negligent tackle on a highly paid banker by the loss of earnings claim alone.

Given that these risks do not necessarily occur to every person involved in sport there is a strong case for government intervention in this area and in particular through the introduction of compulsory insurance schemes. Certainly, there has been some movement in this area. For example, in July 2000, then Sports Minister Kate Hoey signalled her support for the introduction of a compulsory insurance scheme to benefit more than 500,000 amateur footballers. However, no action has been taken. Further, the case for other sports is equally as strong if not stronger in some cases.

Whilst the government fails to act, the responsibility rests with the governing bodies to bring in some form of compulsory insurance for their members. It is interesting to note that for the more extreme sports such as surfing and kitesurfing the organising bodies have taken the lead in this area by offering insurance as one of their member benefits. Considering that a kitesurfer apparently recently landed on top of a double decker bus on the Brighton Sea Front, this can only be a good thing.

Whilst some governing bodies also fail to act then the responsibility ultimately rests with the clubs and the players themselves to make sure they are covered.

Whatever system develops in the future, it is absolutely clear that this area of liability currently represents a large gap in the insurance market and it is surprising that insurers have not exploited this sooner.

1 Chambers of Geoffrey Nice QC, 1 Temple Gardens, London EC4Y 9BB.

2 British Sports Council Survey, Epidemiology of Exercise, 1991; ‘Sports Law and Litigation’ by Craig Moore (CLT Professional Publishing, 2nd Edition, 2000) at 145

3 Sweet and Maxwell, 2002; www.sweetandmaxwell.co.uk

TIM KEVAN is a Barrister at 1 Temple Gardens with expertise in personal injury, credit hire, sports, costs, consumer and internet law. He is a member of the Civil Justice Council’s sub-committee on funding. He is the author of four textbooks: Sports Personal Injury Law, E-mail, the Internet and the Law , Kevan on Credit Hire and A Guide to Credit Hire and Repair. He has also written a number of articles in publications such as The Times, the Journal of Personal Injury Law, the Solicitors' Journal and Counsel Magazine. Contact: Chambers of Geoffrey Nice QC, 1 Temple Gardens, Temple, London EC4Y 9BB.

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