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A personal injury lawyer has described the death of local footballer Nathan Fitzgerald as “an accident waiting to happen” that raises serious questions about oversight of community sports and the use of covered concrete cricket pitches on multi-use grounds.
The 27-year-old died after suffering serious head injuries during a local football match at Lalor Recreation Reserve. Witnesses said he knocked heads with another player before hitting the synthetic turf-covered concrete wicket in the middle of the oval. The exact circumstances that led to his death remain under investigation by the Coroners Court.
Prime Injury Lawyers partner Tim Jackson said the tragic incident must prompt an urgent review of pitch guidelines.
Jackson said the AFL could be held legally liable for Fitzgerald’s death as the organisation responsible for setting guidelines for synthetic surfaces at community grounds. The guidelines are set in collaboration with Cricket Australia.
“Just because you have regulations doesn’t mean the regulations are right. They don’t automatically protect you if it’s ultimately shown the criteria themselves were inadequate,” he said.
“The organisation clearly understands that surface hardness matters. It knows that striking a hard surface can cause serious injury … If you’ve got synthetic grass sitting over a concrete base, knowing players are going to land on it, then that is a foreseeable risk.”
The AFL chose not to comment on its liability when contacted by this masthead.
Agent-turned-advocate Peter Jess said he raised specific concerns around the safety of community sports grounds late last year after a separate incident in which a VFL player was concussed after hitting his head on a concrete drain close to the boundary.
Jess said he wrote to AFL boss Andrew Dillon, the AFL Players’ Association and WorkSafe asking whether safety inspections were carried out before each season.
He said neither Dillon nor the AFLPA responded. WorkSafe Victoria informed him it would discuss the matter at a meeting the following month, in December.
Jess wrote again to Dillon in March this year, reiterating this point, and demanding the AFL identify and communicate in detail the hazards posed to all footballers under their jurisdiction, and again received no response.
The AFL, AFLPA and WorkSafe, which broadly monitors concussion issues and evidence to ensure safety compliance, were contacted for comment about Jess’ correspondence. The correspondence was seen by this masthead.
WorkSafe said on Tuesday that it was notified about the incident at Lalor on Saturday and inspectors were making inquiries to determine what further action may be required.
Jess said he believed WorkSafe should investigate as Lalor Recreation Reserve and other grounds like it were used by paid football players, making these ovals their workplace, but WorkSafe has historically said they do not constitute workplaces. Fitzgerald was paid for some of the games he played.
Jess said having “a concrete structure in the middle of your playing ground” should have been a big red flag, but that there were countless other ways that players were regularly being exposed to the risk of brain injury during games, and that community footballers were uniquely at-risk.
“If you’re not in the AFL you get shunted out to the VFL. If you’re not in the VFL you get shunted out to clubs in local leagues,” he said. “The duty of care dribbles down, but there shouldn’t be any difference between elite safety and community football safety.”
The AFL has not announced any review of facility standards and did not respond to specific questions about player safety put to it by this masthead earlier this week, but a senior source, who was not prepared to be quoted because the facts of the incident have not been established, indicated current safety thresholds for pitch coverings could be reviewed. They said there was no suggestion the Lalor Reserve pitch did not meet standards.
Cricket Australia said it would consider any issues arising from Fitzgerald’s death after the facts of the incident were known. It said it did not have the power to mandate the types of coverage used for synthetic pitches.
Jackson said he believed the council, the club whose home ground the match was played on and the local league could also be held liable.
Lalor Football Netball Club – whose home ground was the site of the incident at the weekend – said it did everything it could to ensure player safety.
One of the club’s representatives, who did not wish to be named due to the ongoing coronial investigation, said they prepared the ground as normal and checked its condition accorded with the AFL guidelines.
“It’s the council’s ground and it’s made to AFL specifications,” they said.
“We did everything we could. What else could we do?”
The representative said everyone had enough on their minds without questions of legal liability.
“Everyone had a close view of it … A lot of them just had fear on their faces,” he said.
“I’ve got a lot of boys saying they don’t want to play footy again,” he said. “We’re lucky we have a bye this weekend.”
The Northern Football Netball League said umpires inspected the ground before the game, and it would not “be drawn into discussions regarding ground conditions for local football” as it focused on supporting Fitzgerald’s family and its clubs.
Whittlesea Council, which manages Lalor Recreation Reserve where the incident happened, maintained its concrete wicket cover fully complied with the AFL and Cricket Australia standards, saying it was not aware of any previous incidents at the reserve. It said it would support a review of the guidelines for covering wickets, if this practice was found to have contributed to the tragedy.
Lalor, which has temporarily paused training, said it was fortunate to have a bye round this weekend. A trauma counsellor was scheduled to speak to players on Tuesday, while on Thursday night the team will likely do something low-key together, like 10-pin bowling.
Epping has invited the club to walk out onto its home ground alongside its players for a memorial in Fitzgerald’s honour this weekend.
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Sam McClure is an award-winning AFL journalist and broadcaster.Connect via X or email.
Bridget McArthur is a sports affairs reporter at The Age, covering the intersection of sports and politics/business/economy/society.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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