Amateur footballer becomes first to be jailed for violent tackle
05 Mar 2010
A footballer who broke another man's leg in two places during a
Sunday League match has become the first player to be jailed for a
violent tackle.
Mark Chapman, 20, slid in to tackle 26-year-old Terry Johnson at
the end of a Rugby and District Sunday League game with such force
that both his tibia and fibia were snapped.
The victim had to have metal plates and rods inserted into his leg
and will never play football again.
He has also had to have months off work and has been struggling to
support his family as a result of the injury.
The referee sent Mr Chapman off after deciding that he slid in with
all his studs showing and deliberately attempted to injure the
other player.
A hearing at Warwick Crown Court was told that Mr Chapman had
already been warned about his violent conduct and the judge ruled
that he should be imprisoned for six months.
Although other football players have been jailed for violent
conduct before, previous cases have involved off-the-ball incidents
and not violent tackles, so Mr Chapman is the first person to be
jailed for this.
Mr Johnson could now seek compensation through a civil claim or the
Criminal Injuries Compensation
Authority.
Any sports player who suffers an injury, be they professional or
amateur, may be eligible for compensation if it can be proved that
the injury was caused by the negligence of another player.
The contact has to be reckless or dangerous and beyond the normal
range to be expected in the particular sport in order for the claim
to be successful.
Shazia Yamin, a specialist in personal injury claims at Hodge
Jones & Allen LLP comments:
“The issues arising when a player is injured during the course of a
football match have recently been highlighted following the serious
injury sustained by the Arsenal player Aaron Ramsey at the hands of
the Stoke City defender Ryan Shawcross. Whilst criminal
prosecutions resulting from such altercations are rare, they are
not unheard of; illustrated by the jailing of former Rangers
player, Duncan Ferguson, in 1994 for an on-field off-the-ball
incident involving John McStay during his team’s match with Raith
Rovers.
“In terms of claims for personal injury, over recent years it has
been established that such claims are based upon a common law duty
of care and decided using the ordinary negligence standard of care.
Predictably, personal injury claims arising from such incidents
often involve large claims for loss of earnings; requiring detailed
and complex evidence about the likely career path of the injured
player and his associated earnings potential.
“However, it has been said that whilst professional players for
high profile clubs are fortunate in that there are often insurance
policies in place to meet their claims; amateur players for smaller
non-league clubs may find that even after having obtained judgment
in a claim resulting from a sporting injury; there is no
paying-party with pockets deep enough to ensure that the player is
compensated. This has led to calls for a national insurance scheme
for sports to be established.”
