For a footballer to sue for ‘negligence’ is like a climber suing a mountain

The case of Ben Collett, the footballer awarded £4.5 million for a tackle that ended his career, bodes ill for the game, says Rod Liddle. Blame the zeitgeist, not the judge

If you went rock-climbing in the Andes and, halfway up a vertical cliff face, the surface beneath your feet crumbled away and you slipped and fell — condors and local Indian tribesmen laughing in the background, air whistling past your ears and then bang, bang, bang as you clatter into the ground, sustaining disfiguring but not fatal injuries — well, would you sue the mountain for negligence? Get your lawyers on to it double quick, shove in a claim for a million quid or so? Press conference on the steps of the court with you in your wheelchair: ‘It is time that mountains understood that they have a duty of care under the law. Let this be a lesson.’

The former professional footballer Ben Collett, who almost played for Manchester United but didn’t quite, has just been awarded what will be, with pension rights, £4.5 million in compensation for a tackle which ended his career. Ben was 18 when he made his debut for Manchester United reserves in a game against Middlesbrough reserves and was the subject of a ‘negligent’ tackle by Boro’s Gary Smith. Now, my definition of a negligent tackle has always been one which leaves the opposing player in possession of all his limbs, and also the ball. This is the first time I have heard the word used to mean almost the opposite: that Mr Smith, as he approached to make the tackle, may have temporarily forgotten his legal duty of care towards Mr Collett, had he ever been aware of it in the first place.