Sporting official blamed for athlete injury
Smolden V Whitworth (1996)
A referee was held liable for injuries sustained by one of the players in a rugby union match.
The player's neck was broken and he became a paraplegic after a scrum in which he was participating collapsed.
The basis for the referee's liability was that he had repeatedly failed to enforce a rule which had been specifically brought into the game (which involved young and inexperienced players), to minimise the risk of injury.
Basically the rule was intended to ensure that a scrum was created with some stability so that there would be minimum possibility of collapse.
Decisions like this indicate that it may be time for referees and related sporting clubs to review their legal liability insurance cover.