A&H

My game today

Chris Smith

Member
Ladies and gents may I just remind you how important it is to make sure you're correctly appointed to a game or if you're refereeing a charity game and you must make sure your bum is covered because today I had a game and it ended up with having a player rushed to hospital with a snapped arm, he will be claiming for it as well. Please please make sure you're covered because you never know what will happen.
 
The Referee Store
Ladies and gents may I just remind you how important it is to make sure you're correctly appointed to a game or if you're refereeing a charity game and you must make sure your bum is covered because today I had a game and it ended up with having a player rushed to hospital with a snapped arm, he will be claiming for it as well. Please please make sure you're covered because you never know what will happen.

Can you define 'claiming for' and from whom?
 
What I'm reading here is that the game wasn't sanctioned and that the injured player is claiming against you.

Please can you clarify?
 
Has this ever actually been tested in a court of law? - just curious

Good question.

It should be pretty cut and dry though > it would be assumed that all games were to be played accepting LOAF in their entirety, unless decided otherwise.

Law 5 would apply in full along with all others, and the onus would remain on the complainant to prove LOAF were consciously not being adhered to from the start.

And that's just in an unsanctioned game.

In a league or affiliated game all players would have had to sign on for their team, at which point the t&c's would take care of the game being played in line with competition rules (LOAF + any special amendments for that particular competition).

If they achieved all that, the complainant would then subsequently need to prove his injuries were a direct result of neglegence on the referees part and the referee had full control of the event or circumstances that lead to the injury, and that had the referee taken a different course of action the injuries would not have occurred .

God bless Law 5. :)
 
Sanctioned or not the claim cannot be against you unless you caused the incident.

Or allowed it to happen through negligence. Although I'm not sure how this would apply to a football match, except maybe saying that a water logged pitch was safe to play on, or that obviously seriously damaged goals were OK to use.
 
hmm, caused you say. Define what counts as causation - poor match management, incorrect , or even correct, application of law? Actually turning up therefore causing the game to go ahead ...

Hmmmm, causation.......
 
Law 5. Says it
All
Law 5 wouldn't mean a thing. The laws of the land will trump the rules of a game every time. You'd be very naive to think that just because the rules of your chosen game say you can't be sued that you can't be sued.
I think there has been a couple of attempts against the referee (say, when a player has broken their leg by catching it in a divot) in the UK but nothing successful.

While there has been no successful case, to my knowledge, you want to do everything you can to minimise the potential for it even being worthwhile of getting to caught. Not a lawyer, but I'd imagine there would be many ways to get around Law 5 - I'd imagine simply arguing that the referee hasn't fulfilled his duty (say, ground check) would be the easiest way.

But also, if the match isn't sanctioned and it does get to court, would the FA protect you? Or would you be on your own with the lawyers?
 
Law 5 wouldn't mean a thing. The laws of the land will trump the rules of a game every time. You'd be very naive to think that just because the rules of your chosen game say you can't be sued that you can't be sued.
I think there has been a couple of attempts against the referee (say, when a player has broken their leg by catching it in a divot) in the UK but nothing successful.

While there has been no successful case, to my knowledge, you want to do everything you can to minimise the potential for it even being worthwhile of getting to caught. Not a lawyer, but I'd imagine there would be many ways to get around Law 5 - I'd imagine simply arguing that the referee hasn't fulfilled his duty (say, ground check) would be the easiest way.

But also, if the match isn't sanctioned and it does get to court, would the FA protect you? Or would you be on your own with the lawyers?

Of course it does.

If you sign up to play by the LOTG you are bound by the rules as issued by FIFA in their entirety.

That includes law 5.

These aren't just local competition rules, made up by a bloke down the pub and written on a fag packet, these are the guidelines used to facilitate a game of football anywhere in the world
 
"In the event of a court case regarding blame of the referee in relation to an injury sustained by a player, coach of spectator, one should always plead guilty at the earliest opportunity to aid their match control moving forward"
- Last Weeks Ref
 
Hmmmm, causation.......

I love this quote cause and effect @Chris Smith so was the pitch waterlogged and something wrong with goal post and you played it is that what happened to cause this player to break his arm or was the match not santioned by your county fa
 
Of course it does.

If you sign up to play by the LOTG you are bound by the rules as issued by FIFA in their entirety.

That includes law 5.

These aren't just local competition rules, made up by a bloke down the pub and written on a fag packet, these are the guidelines used to facilitate a game of football anywhere in the world
Laws of the land > Laws of the game.
 
actually @CapnBloodbeard ... the laws of association football are created by a governing body - meaning that they equate to the laws of the land IF it is a law suit within the grounds of football ... of course if the referee tripped a player on purpose with witnesses, that would be a law of the land and he'd be charged with assault/gbh/abh - whatever one ... but unless the referee literally assisted in the harming of a player - then the LOAF does protect him against any lawsuit ...

I mean, im pretty sure IFAB and FIFA have a sturdy enough law department that checks over everything they stipulate ?
 
I'm with Capn B on this one - you can't contract out of the law.

Most public areas, ranging from car parks to stadiums and theatres will have a "disclaimer" that says something like the owners are not liable for any damage to personal property or injury to persons etc however caused.

Clearly in reality that is a nonsense and if venue at fault - ie part of stadium collapsed then you would certainly have a claim against that venue.
 
I'm with Capn B on this one - you can't contract out of the law.

Most public areas, ranging from car parks to stadiums and theatres will have a "disclaimer" that says something like the owners are not liable for any damage to personal property or injury to persons etc however caused.

Clearly in reality that is a nonsense and if venue at fault - ie part of stadium collapsed then you would certainly have a claim against that venue.

In order to pursue a claim, negligence would have to be proved, which is where the disclaimer comes in. You cannot exclude liability for negligence, so if it was established that the referee had been negligent (eg. Allowed a game to take place on an unfit pitch), then law 5 would not be applicable.

Negligence is notoriously difficult to prove though, so in reality, although it has never been tested, it's unlikely that any claim against a match official would be successful.
 
I love this quote cause and effect @Chris Smith so was the pitch waterlogged and something wrong with goal post and you played it is that what happened to cause this player to break his arm or was the match not santioned by your county fa

It was a 4G pitch clear day, the pitch was perfect to play on.

What happened was it was a one on one situation with the GK and attacker, the goal keeper dived on the floor to get the ball but the attacker chipped the ball over the keeper and as the follow threw they both collided, it wasn't the goal keepers intent to take the attacker out.

It was a sanctioned game and I have the proof it was, I am keeping it including the team sheets and match card just in case.

I have written a small report to my county FA regarding the incident. I have full backing from my county FA.
 
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