Amateur Football Club Insurance
Due to the ‘compensation culture’ sweeping the UK, the Football Association (FA) has been forced to set up an insurance scheme for amateur players who are liable to be sued over bad tackles. Starting next season, all players must be insured. All of the 11-a-side teams will have to pay up to £82 each year as part of the National Game Insurance Scheme. The basic cover scheme will cost £26, so clubs will either be paying as little as £1.73 per player or as much as £5.47 per player per season. Over the past few years there have been numerous cases of players trying to sue their rivals over bad tackles on the pitch resulting in broken bones and other injuries, sparking the movement for this new policy.
Mike Dowling, secretary of the Birmingham Amateur Football Association said: “It’s not so much the money, it’s the hassle you have to go through. While personal accident cover is being made mandatory nationally, we have had it for a couple of seasons and while it may not cost as much as the kit fee for example, you have to jump through more hoops.” The problem with these insurance schemes is that the benefits do not add up to much if you have a lot of commitments outside of the pitch. For example, the compensation received will amount to less than £100 a week. Mike Dowling also said “if you have children and a mortgage to pay off, that amounts to very little. The whole thing is just a bit of a headache really.”
In the past, there have been issues with players using no win, no fee solicitors just to see what they can get out of the other player. The sport of rugby has had a similar personal accident scheme for the past several years.
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James Savery, 18 June 2013