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Wigan players
refund fans
Wigan Athletic’s first-team players
have personally refunded the club’s
fans who bought tickets at the DW
Stadium for the Premier League
game against Tottenham which saw
the latter team crush their opponents
9-1.
Wigan took a large following to White
Hart Lane for the defeat, the second
heaviest in Premier League history.
‘We feel that as a group of players we
badly let down our supporters,’ said
Wigan captain Mario Melchiot via the
official club website.
‘This is a gesture we have to make
and pay them back for their loyalty.
We are professionals, we will take
it on the chin and move on but it’s
important that we do not take our
supporters for granted.’
Wigan are the first team to concede
nine goals in a Premier League match
since Manchester United beat Ipswich
9-0 at Old Trafford in 1995.
Making Aussie Rules
safer for kids
Junior Aussie Rules teams are working
hard to make the game safer after
a report by the Murdoch Children’s
Research Institute revealed that
almost a third of sport related head
injuries that send children to hospital
were incurred whilst playing the sport.
The study collated information about
children aged 6-16 presenting with
head injuries to the Royal Children’s
hospital over a year.
Of the 406 head injuries in 2004,
70% involved boys and one-third
occurred while playing sport. AFL was
associated with more than 30% of
the sport related injuries. Whilst most
were mild but 13% were moderate or
severe.
Some of the safety measures
adopted are tackling being phased
in over the junior years, trained
medical volunteers being available
and grounds being checked before
matches. Many junior clubs are also
insisting on helmets being worn.
Half-time
entertainment at risk
because of law suits
Australian National Rugby League
club Canberra Raiders are set to
end crowd particip tion in half-
time entertainment after a series of
lawsuits by fans claiming injury when
taking part in half-time games.
Themove, which is likely to be followed
by other NRL clubs, comes after the
third lawsuit against the club by a
person claiming to have been injured
during half-time entertainment has
gone to the ACT Supreme Court.
Lawyers for former Olympic
volleyballer, Selina Scoble, have
lodged papers in the ACT Supreme
Court claiming their client suffered
lasting injuries while throwing a rugby
league ball during a celebrity match-
day challenge at Canberra Stadium
nine years ago. In another lawsuit,
a Raiders fan is suing the club for
injuries he suffered during a half-time
competition at Canberra Stadium
three years ago after he allegedly
hurt himself in a competition to use
a milk crate to catch balls kicked by
former Raider Bronx Goodwin.
It is understood that another man
is claiming compensation, after he
allegedly suffered whiplash injuries
after running into a giant rubber ball
at another half-time entertainment
event.
Now the Raiders management have
decided that they can no longer afford
the exposure of public participation
in match-day entertainment, Chief
Executive Don Furner explaining,
“Crowd participation in half time
entertainment is pretty much a no-
go any more for us and we’ve spoken
to a lot of the other NRL clubs and
they’re in a similar position.”
Furner added that the move reflected
the trend towards a more litigious
society and was regrettable.
Shorts
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