Can you sue a referee?

tomtontom

This would make for an excellent exam question! I agree with Crazy Jamie's analysis, OP if you wish to read further into this the Hillsborough cases would be relevant.

halibut2209

Thank you, TTT. This was not meant to be one of those "WHAT CAN I DO????" type things, but was a situation that gave me cause to think earlier on. I agree that it would be an interesting exam question!

I have been following the Hillsborough enquiries, but perhaps I should follow them further. Regardless, it was a tragedy of the highest order and one that every football fan should acknowledge.

Crazy_Jamie

halibut2209 wrote: »

I have been following the Hillsborough enquiries, but perhaps I should follow them further. Regardless, it was a tragedy of the highest order and one that every football fan should acknowledge.

I expect tomtontom is referring to Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, which is a case that arose due to Hillsborough and deals with duty of care. Essentially a lot of people attempted to bring personal injury claims against the police for psychiatric harm caused by seeing their friends and relatives crushed to death on live television. As they claimed the police had caused the deaths, they argued that the police should also be liable for their own psychiatric harm from witnessing the event. It was mentioned because it raises an interesting duty of care point.

Hintza

A few years ago I would have quite liked to have sued Ferrari in a race Rubens Barrichello was going to win until team orders came in to play on the line!!

WTFH

Should the ref be sued for not spotting it, or the player who cheated?

Put it another way, if a robber breaks into your house, is he the guilty party, or should the police be blamed?

When Matthew Rees used the illegal ball for a throw in which led to Wales scoring a try (leading to them winning the 6N), where, if he hadn't cheated, Ireland would have won the match and the 6N, is it the ref at fault or the cheating welsh b@$*@rd?

As long as refs get blamed, the cheats will continue to cheat, because they lack morals and have nothing to lose.

System

WTFH wrote: »

Should the ref be sued for not spotting it, or the player who cheated?

Put it another way, if a robber breaks into your house, is he the guilty party, or should the police be blamed?

When Matthew Rees used the illegal ball for a throw in which led to Wales scoring a try (leading to them winning the 6N), where, if he hadn't cheated, Ireland would have won the match and the 6N, is it the ref at fault or the cheating welsh b@$*@rd?

As long as refs get blamed, the cheats will continue to cheat, because they lack morals and have nothing to lose.

Who cheated?

Mistiming a tackle in the box does not make you a "cheat".

WTFH

goater78 wrote: »

Who cheated?

Mistiming a tackle in the box does not make you a "cheat".

Deliberate or accidental? Was it a tackle, a hand ball, a shirt pull, a dive, what?

agrinnall

Hintza wrote: »

A few years ago I would have quite liked to have sued Ferrari in a race Rubens Barrichello was going to win until team orders came in to play on the line!!

I think this is a far better example, where it can easily be shown that the potential to win a bet was completely removed by a team decision, rather than a mistake. In some sports such a decision would be deemed against the rules as "not trying" but the rule change to allow team orders in F1 mean that betting on a result is even more of a lottery than it is in other sports.

Disclaimer: I never bet on F1, although I do occasionally have a flutter on golf, and even more rarely football and horse racing, generally with a complete lack of success .

halibut2209

I wouldn't say it's better. It's fair to say that there is no recourse for what MAY have happened. But the examples I gave in the OP could be considered provable losses, ie things that DID happen but were incorrectly ruled not to have happened

WTFH

Did the ref fail to see it because of incompetence, positioning, or because football refuses to use video technology, such as is used in tennis, cricket, rugby, motorsports,...