RUGBY League World Cup officials are being warned about potentially being sued following Australia’s 42-8 demolition of Fiji over the weekend.
Australia captain James Tedesco made contact with a TV camera after trying to stop a Fiji try, but NRL chiefs have called into question the safety regulations at the tournament with the camera placing close to the dead-ball line.
Wests Tigers chairman and compensation lawyer Lee Hagipantelis believes that World Cup chiefs could be hit with lawsuits if a player is seriously injured due to a collision with an off-field object.
“The proximity of the players and the playing of the game to the surrounds is of a kind that it would have to be foreseeable a player could slide into a fence or a cameraman and suffer serious injury,” Hagipantelis told Radio SEN.
“I think they are running a seriously, seriously high risk of some litigation being brought if a player does suffer an injury of that kind, given that it has to be foreseeable that it can occur.”
Tedesco was, fortunately, unhurt by the collision as Australia ran away with proceedings in a convincing fashion as the Kangaroos look to defend their World Cup title.
