Football club receives red card over compensation claim
It has been revealed that a football club is facing the prospect of financial ruin after losing a compensation claim appeal.
The case involves a player from the opposite team who filed apersonal injury suit for £32,000, after he was tackled.
As a result, he was forced to retire due to a broken leg suffered in a challenge with a defender, during a Conference North game five years ago.
The 35-year-old victim, from Harwood in Bolton, broke his tibia and fibula, and nearly died whilst in the ambulance being taken to hospital, as his heart stopped.
Therefore the club, one of Greater Manchester’s oldest semi-professional clubs, may face financial ruin because of this latest money loss.
The footballer successfully took the 132-year-old club, based at Hurst Cross, to court for potential loss of earnings.
The player won his claim but the club appealed the ruling. However, the High Court rejected the appeal and stated that the accident claim must stand.
The chairman for the club described the judgement as a “significant blow for our future” which has left the club in a “dire position.”
He said that the claimant: “will never get back the career he lost through an unfortunate accident on the field of play and the verdict will not help protect other players from accidental injury in similar circumstances, yet the cost of the legal fees due to both parties are much greater than any award granted by the court.”
Club pleads council to save them
Urgent talks are now being held with Tameside council in a bid to keep the club’s head above water.
The chairman stated: “Further appeals would be financially unviable and unlikely to succeed so, over the next few days, officials [...] will be consulting solicitors, insolvency advisors, the Northern Premier League, the Manchester FA and Tameside council about the club’s position, with a determination to carry on.
“At the outset of proceedings [the club]clearly demonstrated that it did not have the financial means to meet any substantial claim from either its own funds or assets, yet [the claimant] and his legal team continued with their action, aware that a successful outcome on their part would be liable to have serious implications for the club’s future.
“A dangerous precedent may have been set by this verdict, which [the club] always felt was deeply flawed and everyone at Hurst Cross urges fellow clubs who may, one day, find themselves in a similar situation to take every possible action to protect their assets against potential claims in the future.”
After hearing the case at a court in Manchester, Judge Armitage QC commented: “In my judgement, the timing of the challenge and the method adopted were such that it was reasonably foreseeable to a player of [the defendant’s]skill that a collision was likely in circumstances where serious injury would result. The challenge was negligent.”
During the case, the accused responded: “Given that we were so close together and both travelling, [we]both unfortunately collided. This all happened in a split second. My aim had been to play the ball and not the player.”
The club won the 1885 Manchester Senior Cup and also plays in the UniBond League.
Updated on 03/06/2010