Mulderrigs Blog

Roger Eli in his Turf Moor heyday

Former professional footballer Roger Eli is backing a campaign which aims to persuade the FA to introduce a nationwide scheme of insurance to protect players who are badly injured by reckless challenges.

The campaign was launched by our M.D Paul Mulderrig who has been appalled by the lack of a safety net for players who suffer these injuries.

And the campaign has won the support of Eli, who starred in Burnley’s 4th Division championship-winning side in 1991 but later saw his own career cut short by serious injury.

“I was shocked to hear that players can suffer serious injuries from dangerous challenges and then discover that they can’t get compensation because there’s no insurance,” said Roger, who now runs a successful office supplies business in Yorkshire.

“My own playing career was cut short by injury, so I know at first hand what a devastating blow it can be for injured players. The crazy thing is that most players think they are covered, even though they’re not. After I finished playing I was a manager in non-League football for a couple of years and I just assumed that all my players would have been able to get compensation if they’d been badly injured by a reckless challenge.

“The financial consequences of suffering a broken leg or similar serious injury are massive, so I am completely behind Paul’s campaign to get the FA to introduce a nationwide scheme of insurance.”

Paul comes across lots examples of amateur players who have been injured during a game, because of reckless challenges.

Paul has specialised in football injury claims for over fifteen years and represents injured players across the country. He is a member of the Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel and the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.

He began lobbying the FA four years ago, after uncovering an alarming number of cases where amateur players had suffered serious injuries but then found they couldn’t get compensation due to the lack of appropriate insurance cover on the offending player.

Paul added: “I know some sceptics say this is all part of the so-called “compensation culture” and  designed to make lawyers rich. But that’s just rubbish. People who say that have never sat down in the front room of a young player who has come home with his leg in pieces. These lads end up behind on their mortgage, rent and car payments, and are often unable to work for six or twelve months due to the seriousness of their injuries.

The FA can stop this in an instant — they need to act now!”

Paul is also a lifelong Burnley fan and a current season ticket holder at Turf Moor, so he was delighted to get the support of Roger, who is a genuine Clarets legend. 

Mulderrigs have  offices in Rossendale, Oldham and London.

This release courtesy of Tony Garner – Viva PR 01706 214340 07866 803954

This is what a player's broken leg looks like on the inside.

Chris Duncan (that’s his real name) is an amateur footballer from Hertfordshire.

Chris was injured during a game in April 2008. Chris will say that he had passed the ball and it was long gone when he was challenged heavily from behind.

The referee  issued a straight red card.

Chris suffered a badly broken leg  which had to be screwed back together during an operation and the metalwork is still in place. The x-rays are pretty horrible don’t you think? He was away from his work for months, and will have permanent symptoms.

Obviously, the court will have to decide what exactly happened and whether or not anyone was to blame…. But we have dealt with dozens of these cases and we believe he has very good grounds for claiming over £20,000.00 in compensation against the opposing player.

But here’s the problem……. The FA don’t insist on all clubs having proper insurance to  cover incidents where one player negligently injures another.

The result of all this:-

• Maybe Chris won’t get the compensation we believe he should receive. and/or
• Maybe the offending player will be left bankrupt by having to pay thousands in compensation and legal fees.

Either of those outcomes is completely unacceptable .

We have called on the FA for five years to introduce a nationwide insurance scheme that would protect both offending players and injured players alike. We repeat that call again today.

Chris asked us to write an open letter to the FA on his behalf and a copy of that letter is attached.  Chris Duncan letter to FA 

We’ll let you know how we get on.

Over the years we have found that most of our clients are far more concerned about recovering from their injuries than they are about getting any compensation. And that’s particularly true of our footballer clients and the other sportsmen and women we represent.

After an accident, the insurers for the responsible party have a legal duty to investigate whether they can help with rehabilitation and/or treatment, and at Mulderrigs we have been very succesful at making sure insurance companies meet that obligation. 

In some cases it may involve just a few sessions of physiotherapy to help with recovery, but in other cases we often obtain very substantial payments from insurers to cover the cost of surgery that becomes necessary after an accident.

Mr Rishton is a young footballer from Norfolk who was badly injured as a result of a reckless challenge. We have just obtained an interim payment of £14,500.00 so that our can have an operation carried out privately by a top specialist, rather than waiting for months on an NHS waiting list.  (The name of our client has been changed).

01.02.2011 - Doncaster 1 Burnley 0

A cold night in Doncaster last night.

With the pitch marked out for rugby league, and the home side decked out in a kit more akin to the oval ball (red and white hoops anyone?) it would have been optimistic to have hoped for a display of samba football….So I didn’t hope for it, and it didn’t happen.

Burnley gave a debut to new striker  Charlie Austin, but he didn’t really shine…. We might have been better off signing Ethel Austin (am I allowed to say that in the post Gray/Keys era?).

Two dull sides didn’t really look like troubling the opposing goalkeepers, so Burnley’s centrehalf Duff came up with the bright idea of aiming at his own goal instead – He sent a header whistling narrowly wide in the first half, and improved his aim with another header in the second period.

Under no apparent threat he took the Clarets’ keeper completely unawares with a header that flew in to the top right corner to settle the outcome.

So, 1-0 Doncaster  – A first taste of defeat and much to do for Claret’s new gaffer Eddie Howe.

And how’s this for  a coincidence…. Best own goal I’ve ever seen was scored by Sean St Ledger of PNE at Burnley….Last night’s game was decided by an own goal in Doncaster where the most famous horse race is….Yep, the St Ledger…..weird. 

Let me know what’s the best owngoal you’ve ever seen?

Up The Clarets!

Your correspondent...Paul Mulderrig at Donny 01.02.2011

It’s the morning after the night before…And there’s no doubt that the football world went mad in the last few hours of the transfer window – Torres to Chelsea for £50M, Carrol to Liverpool for £35M.

But here at Mulderrigs it’s the other end of the football spectrum that’s on our mind today.

Over the years we have acted for dozens and dozens of players who’ve suffered very serious injuries as a result of reckless and stupid challenges by opponents.

These clients break down in to two categories:

On one side there’s the players who got an average of £30,000.00 each for their injuries.

On the other side there’s the lads that got nowt….zip, nada, nothing

And the only difference between them?  Some of the players had the misfortune to be injured by a player who wasn’t covered by insurance.

We can’t alter the fact that these injuries happen….They always have, and they always will. From time to time the red mist descends and a young lad does something stupid.

But we do have a problem…a big one…with the FA.

They have known for years that they could take action that would protect the rights of injured players in these dreadful cases, but they have done nothing.

We have just written an open letter to the FA of Wales on behalf of one of our clients, Simon Saddler (his real name) calling on them to explain their position. Simon Saddler – Open Letter to FA of Wales 

Although Simon’s case comes under the FA of Wales, the same scandalous insurance position exists in most counties in England, and we currently represent around 10 lads who are in exactly the same difficult position.

It’s now five years since we called on the FA to introduce a compulsory nationwide scheme of insurance so that the victims of reckess player-on-player challenges can recover compensation for their injuries.

The FA have had calls for action from many injured players, their local MPs and even the previous Sports Minister……And still they’ve done nothing!!

It really is time for the FA to step up to the plate and introduce a scheme of insurance to protect injured players at the grassrooots of the game.

You can express your support for our campaign at this address http://mulderrigs.co.uk/html/Campaignforfootballinsurance_56.html

It’s time for the FA to sort out a national scheme of insurance to protect amateur footballers.

Millions of people play organised amateur football every year… We all know it’s the best game in the world!

The game is regulated at national level by the Football Association.

Each year dozens of players suffer very serious injury as a result of reckless/rash challenges from opponents. It is a small number, but the consequences for the individuals concerned are dreadful.

It is certain that these injuries will continue to occur for as long as the game is played.

Many of these players are legally entitled to claim damages for their injuries – We have represented individuals who have recovered over £100,000.00 each. Clearly these can be very serious cases.

These claims are not novel; the claims are governed by the law of negligence – exactly the same law that governs car accidents or accidents at work – and the law has been settled for many years.

There are never likely to be “floods” of claims….they are extremely difficult to prove and, fortunately, serious injuries are fairly rare.

The FA require all county associations to arrange public liability insurance for member teams, but they do not insist that the insurance includes “player-to-player” cover – i.e. cover for incidents where one player injures another.

The FA have been saying for years that they will reconsider the position, but nothing ever happens.

The consequences of the current inadequate insurance arrangements:-

1. Many injured players who should receive tens of thousands of pounds receive nothing. (We represent dozens of them).

2. Some offending players face financial ruin because they are sued and discover that they are not covered by insurance. (We are, very reluctantly, taking this action against a number of offending players).

It is long over due for the FA to introduce a national scheme so that all players are covered by adequate “player-to-player” cover.

Here’s a pic from yesterday’s game

The Clarets eased past Port Vale at Turf Moor on Saturday, although the 4-2 scoreline was more than a little flattering.

Vale had a large and raucous following, who sang themselves hoarse throughout the afternoon despite things going badly on the field.

Presumably, Lancs Police had been tipped off that there was likely to be trouble of some sort & judging from the policing outside the ground before the game you’d have been forgiven for thinking that Israel were about to play Palastine. Happily, in the end, there didn’t appear to be any significant problems.

The Clarets went ahead early with a Clark Carlisle header at the back post and, although Vale pulled one back after half an hour  the teams were only level for a few minutes before Ty Mears restored the Clarets’ lead with a well struck freekick that the keeper failed to hold.

A Graham Alexander penalty early in the second half sealed the win, and Eagles then added a fourth before Vale grabbed a late consolation.

So, in the end, a routine win and the Clarets are rewarded with another home tie in Round 4