Hi,

I am ineterested to know how referee's are insured against acts of violence and injury. I have recently witnessed an horrific incident in Sydney Australia, whereby a female referee was attacked by a male player and punched in the face. The resulting injuries required a $16,000 facial surgery etc.

Not only was this incident horrific and traumatic enough, to only find out that the insurance company will only pay for $1,200 worth of the costs.

If anyone would like to make donations please dont hesitate to contact me on [email protected], and also could ppl please give me some assistance on how to combat this types of actions, and alo to ensure that our insurance company will cover us for these sorts of attacks

I don't know how the law works "down under", but here in the land of unlimited Michael Jordan comebacks, each state can pass laws mandating civil and criminal penalties for assaults on sports officials.

We have such a law here in Oregon. NASO can be extremely helpful in assisting any interested sports official in getting this type of legislation passed in their state.

As to insurance, my NASO insurance covers lots of stuff, but I'm not sure it covers me against assault. Of course my standard medical insurance would cover my medical bills.

Here's another twist. As I've mentioned before, as a referee, I am actually an employee of my corporation. My company contracts for my services. If I chose to cover myself with a worker's comp policy, I guess I could try to make a case for an "on the job injury", although an assault would be a stretch. Actually, the point is moot, since I choose to opt-out on comp coverage. I have that option, since I am an owner. However, if I could find a legal ruling somewhere that I would be covered in that instance, I may change my mind. Paying a couple of hundred dollars a year might be a prudent investment.

Why wasn't her assailant fined for medical and other expenses?

Bob

Although I was not refereeing at the time, I was mugged about 5 years ago in Dee Why (on the Northern Beaches of Sydney). I too suffered severe facial injuries, requiring reconstructive surgery to my left eye socket. To reclaim my medical expenses I approached the "Victims Compensation Tribunal". Your local police station should have contact details for them. The way it works is that they assess your expenses, as well as factoring pain and suffering. They then pay the victim a fixed sum, and the victim agrees not to take civil action against their assailant. Then the Tribunal can chose to take action to recover its costs by suing the assailant themselves.

Personally I think it is a great scheme as it allowed me to get prompt compensation (took about 6 weeks) and cost me absolutely nothing. Especially in my case the option of pursuing civil action probably would have been a waste of time, as the thugs that mugged me were juvinilles and unemployed.

As far as insurance goes, if the referee was registered (and I hope she was) then NSW Basketball's public indemnity insurance will cover the medical expenses. If she was not registered I would suggest that she take it up with the stadium management.

Please feel free to email me for further details, and I would suggest that she approaches Geoff Trip from NSW Basketball for further assistance (email me for his contact details).

Please pass on my best wishes