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[Darren]

From www.thistrafford.co.uk which also has a couple of pictures related to this story


A dangerous precedent
11:23am Thursday 26th June 2008


By Connor Murphy »

ALTRINCHAM manager Graham Heathcote is worried lawsuits taken by players over bad tackles could set a dangerous precedent for the non-league game.

His comments come after former Robins striker Marcus Hallows decided to sue a fellow player for £100,000 over the horrific injury that ended his career.

Hallows, 33, suffered a double compound fracture of his leg following a challenge with Ashton United defender Danny White in a game between the two teams at Moss Lane on Saturday March 19, 2005.

While en route to hospital, Hallows almost died when his heart stopped and he needed two operations on his injured leg.

The club stuck by Hallows following his injury, keeping him on their books at the start of the following season.

Despite attempting to make a comeback, the player was never able to take to the field again and, as a result, has decided to bring a lawsuit for loss of earnings against White and Ashton United.

A preliminary hearing at Manchester’s Civil Justice Centre heard that Hallows would be claiming for loss of earnings based on a semi-professional football career up to the age of 35.

But Heathcote is worried about the possible repercussions on the non-league game, where such lawsuits are not as prevalent as in professional football.

He told SAM Sport: “Lawsuits set a dangerous precedent because I don’t believe anyone would ever deliberately go in to a tackle looking to cause someone serious harm.

“Any mistimed tackle that ends up in injury to a player could become subject of a lawsuit and players will start to think twice about going in for tackles.”

The case is expected to go to trial next year and should it be found in Hallows’ favour, it could spell the end for Ashton United.

Club chairman Dave Aspinall said: “I don’t know what we’d do if they found in his favour because they would look at claiming our assets but we have none to fall back on.

"We simply don't agree that it was a malicious tackle.

"The person best placed to comment was the referee. There was no booking and neither the ref nor the linesman took any action at the time. In our view it was a collision and it was very unfortunate.

"Danny White is a real gentleman and not surprisingly most upset about what has happened. He's a hard player but an honest one and we're backing him all the way.

"This was just a tackle that went bad. It happens sometimes but there was nothing deliberate about it. We'll just have to see what the court makes of it now."

A former Bolton Wanderers player, Hallows originally signed for Alty on loan from Chorley in November 2003 before agreeing a permanent deal the following February.

He was a key figure in the team which won promotion from the Conference North in 2004/05 and made more than 50 first team appearances for the Robins.

Hallows had been used as a substitute in the game against Ashton United and had only been on the field for two minutes when he was caught by White while trying to fire in a shot on goal.

[Dougals Dad]

George W Bush!

[Unemployed Coalminer]

Nothing new though is it? George Shepherd v Bishop Auckland for example.

[Jezza]

Could be wrong but it seems Ashton did not take insurance out to cover this.......or maybe the argument should be that Marcus should have insured himself?

Marcus wasn't trying to shoot...he had already shot.

The photo from SAM showed exactly how late the challenge was as the ball was a foot away from Marcus's boot having hit it and the defenders foot was equally far away.....,to break the leg the defender's foot had to connect when Marcus's foot had hit the ground (as if it was still in the air any contact would have pushed against fresh air and not broken the leg).

The fact the referee didn't give a penalty is completely irrelevant as all that proves was the ref's incompetence and also extra proof of how late the challenge was as all eyes followed the ball to the keepers save and out for a throw in and suddenl we all realised a challenge had occurred. I'm not sure how the ref thought Marcus had broken his leg without a foul having been committed.

Malicious? very very debatable...reckless certainly....more a case of without due care and attention.

Marcus commented two days afterwards as he lay recovering that no-one from Ashton had bothered to be in touch.

Graham Heathcote as an ex player should fully support Marcus and discuss with the board our insurance arrangements. He was lucky enough to have a full career against real hard men defenders....Marcus was not.

I'm sure the cote would have been the first to make a noise if he had been involved in such an incident that prematurely ended his career.

And in George Shepherd's case there is a legal precedent.

I wish marcus good luck......maybe the cote would be better calling for the FA to have a fund to compensate players.....an injured players fund.........money better spent than on paying off former England manager's ridiculous salaries?

[baldrick]

There is no chance of this claim being successful. Everyone would be trying it. Players would spend more time in court than they spend on the pitch. But based on a player retiring at 35 this claim suggests he was earning £1000 a week.

[Jezza]

As has been said...George Shepherd's claim was succesful........................

[Narcissist]

There is no chance of this claim being successful. Everyone would be trying it. Players would spend more time in court than they spend on the pitch. But based on a player retiring at 35 this claim suggests he was earning £1000 a week.

I worked it out at about 400 quid a week and thought that was bloody steep.

You  have to respect Marcus' decision here, we can only speculate on the mental torture he has had to go through by never playing competative football again, not to mention nearly being killed by it.

However, lets be honest you can't blame Ashton United, and it seems a bit harsh to expect the player to fund this. I doubt he was instructed to do this tackle and I doubt he intended it himself. If you sue a guy for being crap at tackling can we sue Carlos Logan for not being able to cross?