As it just so happens, not only have I been advising people about claims for compensation for many years now, but I am somewhat of an expert in sporting injuries myself. I sadly suffered one of the worst sporting injuries you can sustain in January this year (multi ligament ruptures in the knee resulting in nerve damage and needing an operation for multi ligament reconstruction surgery and a nerve graft), and the nightmare its put me through has been enough to know I’m not going to be playing football again anytime soon (if ever!)
The problem is that sporting injury claims are not easy to win. For a claim for compensation to be successful, two key ingredients need to be satisfied – there has to be negligence (i.e. someone at fault for what’s happened) and your injuries have to have been caused by the aforementioned fault.
Now, when you take part in sport, by law, you accept that there are risks involved. If you play football you accept that in a midair jump for the ball, you could hit an opposing player who is also jumping for the ball, and you can both end up falling awkwardly. You accept that you can be tackled and taken down, which can inherently cause injury through impact of the opposing player sweeping you from your feet. You accept that you can fall awkwardly as I did and rupture several vital ligaments in your knee and rupture a nerve as well, leaving you with potentially permanent damage.
As a former rock climber, I accepted (when I was climbing) that I could fall short distances when using no ropes to climb at low heights (bouldering) and break something in spite of the padded mats. I accepted when lead climbing that falls from short distances occur whilst up the wall, which can leave me banging against a rock face with a great deal of force.
So when can you make a claim for compensation? Even when a member of an opposing team in a sport negligently and forcefully tackles you it would be a struggle to make a claim as it may not be financially viable to sue them. They probably won’t have insurance or the funds to meet a claim plus legal fees. If you were injured through some external factor, such as a defect or a hazard on a playing field, or failing equipment, then you may have a case…
Say you were playing football on a field and you stepped in to a pothole in the field. You could easily break a bone or rupture ligaments like I did, especially if you were running. Here you may have a claim against whoever is responsible for the surface of the pitch. If you collide with something that had a protrusion or a hazard – like a wall in 5-a-side where a nail is sticking out of the wall, causing a deep and nasty gash to you – there could be a claim to answer for.
The best question to ask yourself is – who do you consider at fault for the incident? What could those in the position of power done to stop this from happening? If the answer is nothing, you will likely struggle to make a claim. Otherwise, there may be a chance.
But as I have said earlier – there are certain risks that you inherently and automatically accept when playing sport. My injury was caused by my foot gripping to the surface of the carpeted surface. A claim here would be very difficult as there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with the surface itself – it’s not ideal to play on because it can cause injuries like mine quite commonly, but it’s not classed as dangerous. It was slightly amusing the amount of people at the hospital who knew straightaway where I had played on the night of my injury when I told them what had happened; it seems to occur a lot.
Despite the fact I was unable to walk and unable to weight bear for 9 weeks, and despite the fact I have had 2 operations, seeing a physiotherapist for intense rehabilitation twice a week, still limp because it will take a long time for the leg muscles to get back to normal, and have to wear an AFO (Ankle Foot Orthosios) splint constantly to be able to walk properly because I have nerve damage leaving me with foot drop, my prospects for a claim are extremely low. My claim would be worth tens of thousands of pounds – especially if the nerve graft I’ve had fails. I may still need another operation in years to come, or it may never work again. And the future risks of arthritis or re-injury are a constant worry – but that doesn’t justify a negligence claim.
For specialist advice as to whether you have a claim for compensation, call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 today.
