Sports people who sued

Jarrod McCracken. Photo / Getty

With wheelchair-bound league player Alex McKinnon reportedly considering legal action over the tragic tackle that ended his career, the Herald looks at sports people who went to court over injuries.

Jarrod McCracken
Wests Tigers' McCracken sued former Kiwi team mate Steve Kearney, the current Kiwi coach, Marcus Bai and the Melbourne Storm over a spear tackle in 2000. He wanted $800,000 but got $105,000 in the 2006 result, the judge citing McCracken's loss of career, sporting enjoyment and earnings from the neck and spine injuries.

Ben Collett
The Manchester United teenager won a staggering $9.5m when Middlesborough and their player Gary Smith accepted responsibility for the tackle which broke Collett's leg in two places during a reserve team match in 2003. Defender Collett, who turned up for the New Zealand Knights in 2006, won the case in 2008 on the basis that the injury wrecked a three year contract with United.

Alf-Inge Haaland
Notorious Manchester United legend Roy Keane admitted in a book that he set out for a revenge attack on Manchester City's Haaland. Keane's arrogance encouraged Haaland to to consider a $10m law suit. But it fell over before kickoff because while Keane had damaged his right knee, Haaland had to admit it was an already troublesome left knee that ended his career.

NFL Players
Sixteen former players initiated legal action against their own players' union last year, alleging it was complicit in concussion problems they suffered by ignoring and hiding the risks.

Ben Smoldon
In the mid-1990s, the young English club player made history when he successfully sued the match referee after the scrum collapse which left him a tetraplegic. His case alleged that rugby knew about the severe injury risks and had enacted safety-based scrum engagement rules which the referee had not followed. There had been about 20 scrum collapses in the game and Smoldon as awarded $4m, covered by rugby union insurance. This famous case served as a warning to referees about their duty-of-care responsibilities.