Collisions and concussion in sport : time for a duty of care?

In recent years there has been an increase in public awareness about the consequences of concussion, as retired players announce that they are suffering from serious long-term injuries, and questions have been raised about the long-established framework of sports which include actions with a strong potential to cause concussive and sub-concussive events. Despite an increase in literature, both medical and legal, there has a been a lack of clear resolved jurisprudence indicating a potential avenue for players to recover compensation or for those responsible for framing the sports to be held accountable for their action or inaction. This thesis uses existing medical evidence to contend that there is a significant problem with concussive and sub-concussive events in sport, focusing as case studies on Association Football, Rugby Union, and American Football, and argues that there is potential scope for a duty of care to exist on both sporting bodies and employer clubs. In order to make this argument it is necessary to overcome the barrier of such a duty of care in negligence not presently existing, but it is established that new duties of care can be developed, and it is argued that the criteria for such an extension can be satisfied under the existing law. The thesis also confronts a significant hurdle to such an extension, which is the concept that players consent to such risks, particularly at the professional level when they are highly remunerated. This contention is countered at several levels, with the overall argument concluding that consent cannot be appropriate as a defence to a claim in this type of case, where the relevant body failed in their duties.