Football insurance crisis looms

TOP football clubs risk having to meet multi-million pound payouts because insurers are refusing to provide cover if their players cause a serious injury to opponents.

For the first time, no Premiership club has protection against 'player on player' claims under the block employer's liability insurance policy provided through the Premier League.

No insurer is prepared to provide liability insurance without excluding these claims because of their growing size.

Only last week, former Charlton Athletic player Matty Holmes accepted £250,000 to settle a £2.5 million claim brought against Millwall's Kevin Muscat and his former club Wolverhampton Wanderers for an injury sustained during an FA Cup tie in 1998. But legal costs were estimated at a further £500,000.

Insurers withdrew similar cover from all Football League clubs in the three Nationwide divisions at the end of the 2002 season. Scottish Premier League clubs have also lost their cover.

Clubs must now effectively self-insure and hope to avoid a claim. Some players have sought protection through expensive personal accident policies.

'The claims record is appalling and there are a number outstanding,' said Paul Thomas, underwriting manager at the Premiership's insurers SLE Worldwide, part of the Dutch-owned AON group. 'Nobody is offering that cover now. It is too expensive.'

Tad Detko, the Football League's finance director, says: 'We have not been able to obtain player-on-player cover. If there was a claim, the club would be left to its own devices to meet any settlement, assuming it had funds to do that. It is a case of hoping for the best,' he admitted.

This is more bad news for clubs already facing severe financial problems caused by debt mountains and escalating wages.

Multi-millionaire stars such as Arsenal's Thierry Henry or Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy could claim huge damages if their careers were ended by a tackle such as the notorious incident involving United captain Roy Keane and Manchester City's Alf-Inge Haaland during a 2001 derby.

Haaland said last month he was still undecided whether to sue, despite Keane admitting in his autobiography that he had set out to injure the Norwegian international in revenge for a previous incident.

The most expensive tackle was made by Huddersfield Town defender Kevin Gray on Bradford City striker Gordon Watson during a First Division match in 1997. Watson, whose leg was broken in two places, was later awarded £909,000 in damages.

Clubs have a 'vicarious liability' in law for the improper actions of their employees in the course of their employment so can be the 'deep pocket' target of legal action by an injured player. Until 2002, Football League clubs had protection from player-on-player claims, but this disappeared when their insurers, the Underwriter Insurance Company, closed for new business. They were replaced by SLE who refused to provide that cover.

'Salaries and transfer values are so great in football that claims payments are always going to be high,' said Thomas.

This is because the claim will include not just compensation for current earnings, but also future income as a coach or even a manager.