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JUNIOR AUSSIE RULES PLAYER
AWARDED $589,525 FOR KNEE INJURY
A junior Aussie Rules football player has been awarded more
than half a million dollars in compensation for a serious knee
injury he sustained during a match.
Beau Hart was 17 when he was injured while playing football at
the Banksia Reserve in Beaumaris, Victoria, Australia in 2009.
Mr Hart was running towards an area near the goals during
his first game of the season for the Beaumaris Sharks, when
he leapt to take a mark. As he landed, he caught his left boot
on a wire fence outside the boundary line and crashed to the
ground, badly injuring his left knee.
Mr Hart, now 24, sued the Beaumaris Football Club, the
Southern Metro Junior Football League and Bayside City
Council in the County Court for his injuries.
He argued that the very fact that he had fallen on the fence
while taking a mark in the field of play, without being pushed,
showed that the fence was too close to the boundary line.
The defendants had all argued that the boundary line had been
at least three metres from the fence, in line with minimum
standards set by the Victorian Amateur Football Association.
Judge Robert Dyer said that maps of the ground and evidence
from other witnesses satisfied him that the distance between
the boundary and the fence where Mr Hart fell was probably
about 2.68 metres.This, Judge Dyer said, was “significantly less
than the mandated league minimum of three metres”.
Judge Dyer awarded Mr Hart $589,525 in damages with
additional interest, to cover his pain and suffering, loss of
amenity of life, past medical expenses and future loss of
earnings.
The football club and league will be required to pay 60 per cent
of the damages, and the council will have to contribute 40 per
cent.
The judge said that the club and the league had the primary
responsibility because they were more familiar with the
reserve and frequently visited it.
The council was also partly responsible, because they had
modified their protocols so that they would not need to inspect
or check the boundary markings, even on random visits to the
grounds.
Mr Hart’s fall left him with a foot drop, which requires him to
wear a prosthetic aid to hold it in a fixed position in order to
walk, and he can no longer run. He was in hospital for more
than three weeks after the accident, with pins surgically
inserted into his leg.
NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALLER DIES
AFTER COLLAPSING ON PITCH
DURING CUP MATCH
An English non-league footballer died after he collapsed during
a match just weeks after graduating from University.
Shaw Lane defender Daniel Wilkinson collapsed during a
cup game against Brighouse Street in September and was
pronounced dead at Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.
The 26-year-old, who began his career at Hull City, had recently
graduated from Loughborough University and had just moved
into a flat with his girlfriend in Sheffield.
Teammates at Shaw Lane, who play in the Northern Premier
League Division South, were winning the game 2-0 when
Wilkinson suddenly collapsed. The match was abandoned
after he received medical treatment on the pitch, but could
not be revived.
Wilkinson began his career as a teenager at Hull City, where he
also spent time on loan at North Ferriby and Harrogate Town
after failing to break into the first team at the Premier League
club.
Having given up on a professional career, he went to
Loughborough University to study and signed for Shaw Lane
from Rushall Olympic in the summer.