Help requested with personal accident while playing football

[mclovin9091]

I hope (as this is my 1st post) that this is in the right place.

As things stand i have a broken leg that was incurred after a bad tackle during a game of football in an amateur league. The club was required to have personal accident insurance otherwise we would not be allowed entry to the league, which sounds fair enough. However from what i was told (by the manager) there was only one company to go with and with no insurance there would be no football. Normally i would have asked to see the T+Cs, what they covered and what the payouts were but being that we didn't have a choice and that I doubted I would have been injured, I along with the rest of the team stumped up £10 each.

Then the unexpected happened, broken leg which was both the Tibia and Fibula. This resulted in 2 operations and several months later I am still receiving Physio treatment and rehab which i expect to hopefully finish by the end of April. Paperwork was sent to the insurance company, forms were filled out and when they finally got back to me I was slightly disgusted to say the least.

They claimed that despite me still having a broken leg, as i had managed to be able to be employed 2 weeks after the injury, doing something else other than my usual job that they would not be paying anything as they don't cover the 1st two weeks of any injury. Now I am not one to sit around and do nothing, I ignored the doctors advise to take 6 weeks off and that was why i was back at work so soon. I then finally got some of their T+Cs (what i got is attached) after a fair mount of hassle and could see what they covered and didn't.

Despite being considerably pi$$ed off with the insurance company, they were only operating within their T+Cs, my complaint is with the League due to them effectively forcing this company on ALL players within the league setup.

Would there be a reasonable argument for taking legal action against the League? Being that they pushed this company AND stated that we must have cover (despite some players having their own personal accident cover, which was deemed insufficient or not the right cover etc.) I am also considering going to the press to make other players aware of the poor coverage for injuries by this company (being that theres not many injuries that would keep people off work for more than two weeks)

I have contacted my local CAB but have not received a reply yet. There are a couple of things i need to confirm with the manager such as Did we HAVE to go with that company or was that one just the easiest and Would individual personal accident cover have been accepted by the league.

Thanks for reading this far and any help is greatly appreciated.

[stevemLS]

Re: Help requested with personal accident while playing football

It does look a pretty rubbish policy, tbh, but there again, the premiums are minimal.

I don't think you have a cause of action against the league, you as a team decided you wanted to be a part of it and were aware that this policy was a condition of entry, you could have asked to see the policy, but didn't.

The benefit payable would be minimal in any event, £150 IF you had elected for the broken bone cover and a small weekly income for temporary inability to carry out any work, which you didn't satisfy as you did in fact work.

Sorry mate, not what you wanted to hear.

Good luck with your recovery.

[des8]

Re: Help requested with personal accident while playing football

Hi and welcome to LB
Sorry to hear about your accident
It must have been a heavy tackle,was it a foul or dangerous play?
Regarding your query, I very much doubt you have an action against the league.
They have made it a condition of playing that each team effects this PA insurance. This ensures that every player has at least basic cover.
If an individual player wishes to effect wider cover elsewhere, or chooses not to, is entirely up to that individual. At least they will have basic cover.
The Assoc, have obviously obtained a "cover" or "binding contract" which enables them to cover every player in every team. It would not be reasonable for them to have more than one such facility
When your team committee effected the insurance,did they consult with the members over the level of cover? I'm assuming the club did not purchase any of the options.
If you had known how basic the cover was, would you in all honesty effected further cover for yourself?

[mclovin9091]

Re: Help requested with personal accident while playing football

Thanks for the replies guys and taking the time to read through all (most) of my post. Fortunately i do have other cover through my work but being that the accident happened out of work their payout was also minimal but others are not that lucky.

The sticking point is "minimal cover" but what is the point in paying for something that is not (likely) going to pay out, effectively this company is making tens of thousands just from our league for nothing in return. The way i see it, is that the insurance does not provide basic cover, i mean if i can return to work with a broken leg after 14 days, what would they pay out for other than perhaps a broken back?? Also (personally) despite having alternate/better personal insurance i still HAD to pay towards this cover. If i was off for the recommended 6 weeks then i would have got £200 or £550 if the club had chosen the best available cover. From what the documents show, i have a feeling that the league arranged and purchased the policy for all players (25 per team) and all teams in both the leagues, then got the clubs to stump up the cash afterwards.

Heres a wee pic of the leg: It seemed like a 50-50 tackle but for a change i came off worse.



No i may not like your advise/opinions but at least it steers me in the right direction and not wasting my time chasing a pointless cause, so thank you none the less. I will however be informing the local press to see if they would like to run a story on the "benefits" of choosing this recommended policy.

[des8]

Re: Help requested with personal accident while playing football

How many players in your team?
The premium per team is £125,and covers upto 25 persons.
The cover, Accidental death, loss of limbs/eyesight, life insurance,permanent disability,and temporary total disablement are benefits far in excess of just a broken back.
The cost at £5 per person for blanket type policies like this which cover whilst participating in contact sports ain't IMO bad.
If you want more than just basic cover the cost will shoot up, because the number of claims will increase dramatically.

Regarding your own injury, ouch! and trust you are recovering well