Imputing responsibility for football injuries inflicted by minors in the Maltese scenario

Abstract

This research on ‘Imputing Responsibility For Football Injuries Inflicted By Minors’ examines minors being tortfeasors. This study aims to relate Tort Law to the context of Football. The main scope of this study is to raise awareness that football is not only regulated by its internal rules for wrongful conduct which are autonomous. Many people are not aware that unlawful conduct on the field may be sued for compensation. Case law in Malta is very limited with regards to football injuries, especially when minors are involved, so a comparative approach is taken to examine international case law about football injuries. In other European countries, football is perceived as a professional career, and there is a greater inclination to impute responsibility for damage. In the examination of minors, analyses of different age categories is made to further examine 'mischievous discretion’. Tort Law principles are examined in the context of football to answer the central question of this research; being who may be imputed for injuries when the torSeasor is a minor? This research does not focus only on attributing responsibility to children but also on imputing responsibility to persons in charge of them. In light of this, the responsibility of parents, legal guardians, tutors, curators, clubs and coaches is examined with the duty of supervision of children and de facto responsibility. Also, this research examines the theory of risk to see how liability may or may not be exonerated and whether the mere fact that a child is participating in football constitutes the acceptance of the inherent danger of the game. Moreover, this research aims to give a clearer picture of how responsibility may be imputed in sports environments and how the provisions of Chapter 16 of the Laws of Malta may be applied in such regard.