The Court of Appeal’s decision in Sutton v Syston Rugby Football Club Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 1182 will come as a relief to amateur sports clubs everywhere. The Claimant was in the process of scoring a try for his rugby club when he suffered a serious injury to his knee. The injury was caused by a boundary marker left embedded in the touch down area by the cricket club who had used the ground a few days previously. The club’s coaches had walked over the pitch prior to the game to look for hazards, but the marker had not been spotted as it was below the level of the grass. At trial the rugby club was held liable on the basis that the club should have conducted a more careful pitch inspection and, had they done so, the marker would have been seen and removed. The Court of Appeal reversed this decision, and Longmore LJ commented that “It is important that neither the game’s professional organisation nor the law should lay down standards that are too difficult for ordinary coaches and match organisers to meet … I would therefore conclude that, before a game or training session, a pitch should be walked over at a reasonable walking pace by a coach or match organiser (or someone on their behalf) and that, if that is done, that will satisfy a Club’s common law duty of care in relation to such inspection.”
Jon Heath comments: this common-sense decision is another rebuke to those who like to scaremonger about unending liability and the phantom “compensation culture”. An occupier’s duty under the 1957 Act is simply to take such care as is reasonable to see that the visitor to the premises is reasonably safe. For rugby and other outdoor sports, a walked inspection of the playing area will normally suffice.
