Player's broken ankle puts non-league club's future in jeopardy after they lose landmark legal case

Ossett United, a non-league football club from West Yorkshire, are planning to sell their ground and say that their entire future is “in jeopardy” after they lost a landmark legal case taken by an opponent who broke his ankle.

Ossett say that their insurance, which includes a liability policy offered by the Northern Premier League, did not protect them from costs or legal fees should they lose a claim and they have now been left with a court order for almost £135,000 for damages, costs and legal fees.

The match against Radcliffe Borough in April 2015 was abandoned when Rees Welsh broke his ankle following what his manager, Danny Johnson, called a “poor challenge and a horrible incident”. Phil Smith, the Ossett United chairman, said that it was a “solid tackle” but that the damage was inadvertently caused when Sam Akeroyd’s trailing leg caught Welsh’s ankle.

Welsh was forced out of football for more than a year with the injury and took his case against both Ossett Town, who were merged with Ossett Albion in July 2018 to become Ossett United, and Akeroyd. He was awarded damages of just over £19,000, with the remaining £115,000 relating to costs and legal fees.

Ossett are not leaving Akeroyd to foot any of the bill and have now set up a crowdfunding page. Smith told The Telegraph that the club lived “hand to mouth” and that their running cost each year amounted to £300,000. They now fear that appealing the case, which was heard at Manchester County Court and is understood to have centred on the referee’s view of the challenge, could increase the costs and say that selling the ground, their only asset, “is now looking like the only option”.

Smith said that there was also now huge concern within the league that further claims could arise from previous incidents and threaten the existence of other clubs. They also believe that it could “open the floodgates” in other sports. In correspondence with the league, Ossett were told that the liability policy covers legal defence costs but not any compensation or claimants’ costs awarded by a court. Player-to-player insurance is not mandatory under FA Regulations.