ALL CLUBS, REFEREES AND PLAYERS, should read the following article which was sent to me today.

To all Sanctioned Clubs and Referees

On Wednesday 3rd November 2010 the Chairman and Chief Executive of Sheffield & Hallamshire had to attend the County Court for the hearing of a claim for personal injury brought by a player against a referee.
The match in question took place in 2008 between two teams in one of the local Sunday Leagues. Both teams were affiliated to the County FA and a qualified referee of some standing was appointed by the League to officiate the match.
Unfortunately a player from the away team sustained a serious knee injury from which he has not yet fully recovered. He made an application to the Benevolent Fund of the County FA and was awarded some money to help him through his period of hardship.
The home team played a "ringer" namely a player who was not registered with the County FA and was the player that caused the injury to the away opponent. As the result of the tackle the "ringer" was cautioned and gave the referee the name of a properly registered player. The claimant (injured player) attempted to sue the player who he believed to cause the injury. When the solicitors contacted the registered player regarding the claim against him, he was adamant that he had not played in the match and was not the person who caused the injury. Further enquires were made of the home club and eventually it was ascertained that they had played an unregistered player (the ringer). Allegedly they had been having difficulty in turning a team out and had been fined by the League the sum of £100-00 for an "unfulfilled fixture" because they would not play with a short team. If they had played that particular match say with 10 men they would have been fined by the League the sum of £2-00 (i.e. the fine is £2-00 for each player short of 11)
Because the player in question was unregistered the Insurance Company refused to indemnify him. That left the claimant having to sue the home player directly or find someone else to sue who may have insurance cover.
He elected on doubt on legal advice, to sue the referee of the match in question. Hence the hearing at the Sheffield County Court on 3rd November 2010.
After listening to the claimant and one of the witnesses the Judge made various comments and a "legal" discussion took place between the two Barristers and the Judge. The claimants Barrister then requested a short adjournment and after some time returned to the Court and consented to judgment being given to the Defendant (the referee) with costs. Effectively discontinued his action and in doing so saved at least the second days costs. That is, the player who was seriously injured could not receive any money for the injury.
It is therefore imperative that every League, Club and Player is aware of the dangers of playing an unregistered player as depicted by the Judge. If a player takes part in a match and causes an injury or is injured himself/herself, then it is highly likely that any Insurance cover will be invalidated.
This is the same if a team or individual players play in matches not sanctioned by the County FA. It is also vital that all friendly matches are sanctioned by the County FA so that Insurance cover will or should be effective.
Additionally, FA Rules are also very specific in stating that all matches must be sanctioned and that affiliated team, players and referees must not play or be involved in matches, which involve unaffiliated teams, players of referees.