Ossett raise £135,000 to pay court bill over broken leg

OSSETT UNITED will be able to pay back a £135,000 court order after a party closely associated with the club remortgaged their house to help raise the funds.

The Ingfield club lost a landmark legal ruling in November when a court in Manchester ruled in favour of semi-professional player, Reece Welsh, who suffered a broken ankle while playing for Radcliffe Borough in a game against Ossett Town in 2015.

Welsh was awarded just under £20,000 in damages but Ossett are also liable for the legal costs which took the total order to over £100,000.

Ossett Town merged with Ossett Albion in 2018, forming Ossett United and the liability was transferred to Ossett Town Ltd – also formed in 2018 – who own Ingfield and currently rent the ground lease free to Ossett United. The club thought they may have had to sell their ground but the offer from the party close to the club means the non-league outfit will keep their Ingfield home.

Ossett’s player-to-player insurance policy came “league recommended” but did not protect them from damages or legal fees for the claimant should a case such as the one in November be lost. Club chairman Phil Smith feels that the issue has set a dangerous precedent across non-league.

“I think the league needs to quickly change insurance policies and look at player-toplayer cover,” he said.

“Or make it extremely clear that only your defence costs are covered and should you end up in court and find yourself on the losing side, you will pay the full cost. It could cripple clubs. I don’t know where we would have found the money from.

“The only solution for us would have been to sell the ground. I don’t know where that would have left us, it would have caused us a whole world of problems.”

Ossett’s season was curtailed prematurely last month after the FA announced that all non-league divisions step three and below were declared null and void.

Smith revealed that there was little consultation with clubs and feels that promotion and relegation should have been put in place given the investment which had been poured into the campaign.

He added: “There have been massive debates and I was in favour of a points-per-game system. I think teams needed to have gone up and gone down because there is so much investment that has gone into last season.”