School sports injuries are disturbingly common and with many of them being preventable, safety concerns need to be addressed. Personal injury claims for school sports injuries are always complex, however high profile cases highlight that claims can be successful.

This is according to Kirstie Haslam, partner at DSC Attorneys who says that sports, particularly contact sports, carry a level of risk. By participating in high-risk sports, players effectively consent to the risk of getting injured or hurt.

She says that this tacit consent is the main impediment to successful personal injury claims. “A successful claim hinges on proving the basic elements of delict – conduct, wrongfulness, fault, causation and harm,” she explains. “Unless the conduct of the “wrongdoer” is inconsistent with normal sporting activity, a personal injury claim is unlikely to succeed.”

Liability for sports injuries at schools

Children have a constitutional right to be adequately cared for at school. “It is the State’s responsibility to provide education and extracurricular activities, like sport, in a safe environment,” says Haslam.

In terms of liability, the Schools Act 84 of 1998 is unambiguous.

According to section 60(1)(a) of the Act, “The state is liable for any damage or loss caused as a result of any act or omission in connection with any school activity conducted by a public school and for which such public school would have been liable but for the provisions of this section.”

For a claim to succeed, Haslam says that the plaintiff must prove the five elements of delict. She cites the example of the high profile Izak Foster case, which found that inappropriate conduct by unqualified medics hired by the school caused further injury.

In February 2023, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a judgement handed down in the High Court, Pretoria, that the state was responsible for life-altering injuries sustained by Foster as an 18-year-old schoolboy rugby player. Foster made a multi-million-rand damages claim after suffering life-altering injuries following an accident during a match that left him paralysed 17 years ago.

In the case of Foster versus the MEC of Education, the court found that the high school had not taken reasonable steps to prevent the rugby-related injuries. Foster sustained initial damage to his neck when a player fell on top of him. He was subsequently carried off the field without neck and spine support.

Due to medics’ negligence, a second catastrophic injury occurred, which Haslam says left the young man a paraplegic. It was this injury that the claim was made for. “The court bemoaned the level of medical preparedness, and found the medics used by the school, and by extension the State, to be unqualified, incompetent and ill-equipped,” says Haslam.

Avoidable school sports injury claims examples

Haslam adds that avoidable sports injuries at school, which have led to claims for compensation, are typically caused by:

• inadequate adult supervision
• medical negligence
• incompetence
• poorly maintained equipment
• damaged or
• improper playing surfaces.

How common are sports injuries at South African schools?

The incidence of sports injuries in schools varies from one code to the next. Haslam explains that contact sports like boxing, rugby, football and netball have higher rates than non-contact sports. “Smaller school events have a greater injury incidence due to inadequate monitoring and injury prevention and treatment protocols,” she adds.

As a member of the Department of Sports Medicine at UFS recently concluded, “In most schools rugby matches in South Africa, no programmes are available to monitor injuries.” Rugby most commonly results in serious injuries and fatalities, but Haslam says that hockey, water polo, netball and other ball sports account for injuries to younger players.

According to a UCT study on junior rugby injuries, half of the 400 schoolboy participants suffered a concussion at least once. Between 2001 and January 2020, 100 serious or catastrophic concussion, head, neck or spine injuries were reported in South African school rugby.

In a 2019 study of rugby injuries over a high school rugby season, the incidence was 28.8 injuries per 1,000 player exposure hours. Another study found rugby-related injuries in schoolboys to be greater in South Africa than in England and Ireland.

Claiming compensation for a school sports injury: next steps

Pursuing compensation for a sports injury at school requires the advice and input of a specialist personal injury attorney. “Proving liability requires the expert testimony of medical professionals to demonstrate the cause of the injury,” says Haslam.

“The first step to ensuring the successful finalisation of a claim is to contact a reputable law firm with a proven track record in personal injury claims and civil litigation that work on a no-win, no-fee basis,” she concludes.