Contrary to popular belief, you can make a claim for an injury obtained while playing sports! Whether this is for the local football team or at a professional level, it’s important to ensure that correct safeguarding measures are in place.
The organiser of the event has a duty of care for all those involved, ensuring that they are safe and correct equipment and medical support is freely available.
If you are injured whilst participating in a sport and had an accident that could have been preventable then you may be entitled to compensation.
What can I claim for?
Like other personal injury claims, you can claim compensation for the accident, but also for the costs associated with the accident. You can find out more about this by reading our previous blog, What am I entitled to claim for after an accident?
Again like every personal injury claim, you will have to prove that the organiser was at fault, and they could have prevented the accident through their actions.
You will have to prove:
- The person who had a duty of care was negligent
- An accident occurred because of the negligence
- Because of the negligence, you sustained an injury or had an accident
How do I know that the accident wasn’t my fault?
Injuries happen in sports all of the time. These can be due to other people or accidental collisions like jumping for a header in football or an inability to perform correctly like a gymnast landing wrong. These cases would be quite difficult to raise a claim in.
However, a personal injury claim in sports is due to negligence. These can include:
- Faulty, broken, or below standard equipment
- Inaccurate or poor advice from a coach or trainer
- Unkept, unplayable flooring or pitches
- Inability to use the equipment correctly because of poor or below standard training
- Poorly maintained stadiums, venues, or buildings
- Delayed, reckless, or dangerous tackles from other players
- Being assaulted by a spectator
How to create a case
To ensure you have the best chance of getting the compensation you need to follow the guidelines below to ensure you don’t miss anything that could impact your case.
Best chances of getting compensation:
- Get the incident recorded at the place in the accident report log
- If needed, report to the police
- Have injuries sustained medically assessed: meaning you have medical records
- Ask for witnesses to the accident, get their contact info if they will give it
- Ask any witnesses if they have photos or videos of the injury happening
- Keep a record of injuries: pain, recovery, photos of physical bruises and cuts
- Keep a record, receipts of any costs or expenses incurred because of the injuries: e.g. taxis, rehab, physio, loss of earnings,
If you’ve sustained an injury from playing sport and would like to see if you’re entitled to compensation, please get in touch with our team of experts at info@beestonshenton.co.uk
