Prominent sports lawyer Marcus Ahern warns Fremantle Dockers’ clash at SCG must be moved amid safety concerns

One of Perth’s leading sports lawyers has warned the AFL will face a massive legal pay-out if they ignore the risks around the SCG surface and a player suffers an injury during Fremantle’s game against Sydney on Sunday. Dockers coach Justin Longmuir expressed severe concern about the SCG surface, saying he felt the ground was unsafe while watching Swans and Western Bulldogs players struggling to stand up during Friday night’s game. The surface has been heavily criticised in recent days and the AFL has sent their own expert to NSW in an attempt to fix an issue which began after the SCG hosted a concert in April. Marcus Ahern, a director at Ahern Sierakowski Lawyers and Advisors, said he’d be stunned if the AFL allows the game to be played at the SCG given the potential for injury. “There’s no doubt the AFL will be in breach of their professional duty of care to the players,” Ahern told the West Australian. “They’ve got knowledge of it. They’ve had knowledge of the risk since April. The ground curators have tried to fix it and failed. So they’re aware of the risk, they’re aware of the duty and it may well be taken out of their hands I would suggest. “I would be surprised if the AFL’s insurer has already not told them they have to move the game. When you’re aware of the risk, under your insurance policy you have to notify. They would have notified GIO in April of the problem and they would have had to have got the okay from GIO to continue playing there since April. “I would be staggered if GIO haven’t already said to the AFL that they’ve got to move the game. They would have to have had discussions with their insurer about it.” Ahern said Longmuir’s comments increased the pressure on the AFL and warned any player who suffered a serious injury could take legal action if the game isn’t moved. He said the financial pay-out would be huge. “The claim would be large,” he said. “It’s all of your lost income. All of your income earning capacity from future contracts. You’d lead evidence on that and you’d prove it depending on the age of the player. If it was a young player who is 22 on a good contract, he would be able to prove he has 10 years. Do the math.” Former Adelaide ruckman Shaun Rehn sued the AFL after injuring his knee when his foot slipped on a disc placed in the middle of Football Park to help umpires with their centre bounces. Ex-Carlton midfielder Luke O’Sullivan also took action after injuring his knee where grass had been re-laid at Waverley. Ahern said any cases from an injury this weekend would be viewed as significantly worse. “Those ones are a little different because there wasn’t a clear awareness of the risk that there is in this case,” he said. “So this case is worse because you’ve had an awareness since April of the problem and they’ve been working on the problem. Shaun Rehn and that pad, that’s a one-off act of negligence that may not have been foreseeable. In this case, they know there is a risk and they are considering ignoring the risk and playing the game there. It’s a far worse scenario now.”