Kotoko’s crash and personal accident insurance

On Wednesday, July 12, 2017, I happened to be waiting for a client around a hotel at East Legon. Directly opposite the hotel, across the road, was a bus in Kumasi Asante Kotoko colours.

I saw a few of the players standing at the entrance to the hotel and I could immediately tell Team Kotoko was around. In my casual jovial interaction with two of them, I made reference to the defeat my own Accra Hearts of Oak suffered in their hands in Kumasi two weeks earlier and how that defeat gave me sleepless nights and that we would not allow that to happen to us again, especially in the following Sunday’s super clash, to which we all laughed! That was it!

The sad news

It was such a shock to have heard the following morning i.e less than 24 hours after seeing these players that there was an accident involving Kotoko players and officials while on their way back to Kumasi after their mid-week premier league match against Tema-based Inter-Allies.

This accident was reported to have caused the death of an official and injury of several other players! How quick things can happen!

Accidents off-the-pitch

It is worth noting the fact that accidents involving sportspersons at locations other than on the field of play do occur so long as movements present players with numerous risks while in transit.
Similar but severer to what happened to Kotoko, was the plane crash involving a Brazilian football club that was completely wiped out in a 71-man trip to Colombia from Bolivia in December 2016. Mention can also be made of the April 1993 Zambian national team plane crash.

Indeed the relevant comprehensive insurance policies are the surest ways to mitigating the effects of any mishaps when they do occur.

Since the Kotoko accident, the media landscape has been inundated with calls by sports pundits recommending a comprehensive insurance package for sportspersons. This write up is meant to examine the risks involved in sports and the relevant insurance policies that would be ideal for members of the sports fraternity!

Why insurance for sportspersons?

Footballers, especially have become more prone to accidents than before in spite of advanced technology. While minor accidents can temporarily indispose a player, serious ones can severely affect their lives and career.

Indeed the value of the human life cannot be quantified; however, insurance provides some relief by way of compensation in the event of bodily injuries, death, and disability.

Personal Accident (PA) Insurance

Personal Accident (PA) Insurance is an annual insurance policy which provides compensation in the event of injuries, disabilities or death caused solely by violent, accidental, external, and visible events.

There are two main types of Personal Accident Insurance policies that can be purchased by individual sportspersons and clubs:

•Individual Personal Accident Policies are ones that can be purchased by an individual player to protect himself/herself against accidental occurrences regardless of whether on the field of play or sleeping in his or her bedroom! This will cover impairment, life-long injuries, short-term injuries and death.

•Group Personal Insurance: This is a collection of individuals taking the same policies but this time in a group and can be purchased by the employer (the club), for the players and officials usually at discounted premiums.

Dismemberment is Critical for Sportspersons

In accidental disability, in case the sportsperson is partially or wholly disabled, the policy will compensate the policyholder. Accidental dismemberment is another critical one for, especially footballers. This means that any part of the policyholder’s body such as the feet or arm that has been severed or affected will be compensated for.

For example, the value placed on a footballer’s feet cannot be quantified and therefore cannot be the same as the feet of a writer like myself in the event of dismemberment and its effect on earnings!

Implications for not having a PA

Not having the right insurance policies in place can have seriously immeasurable economic repercussions on family and dependants. Regular earnings are truncated when a footballer is permanently disabled.

Meanwhile, as one age, this is the time medical bills and responsibilities keep rising. Imagine a footballer with disability who has a 2-year-old daughter to take care of. It may be manageable now but in the next 10 years or so, the reality will dawn on him or her when such a child has to go to junior high school and beyond.

Corporate sponsorships

Sponsorship by corporate Ghana has become a critical part of the corporate social responsibility objectives, especially for sporting events such as football, hockey and athletics. Organisations seek to gain extra mileage by associating themselves and their products with various sporting events.

For instance, in Ghana, the Milo beverage is synonymous with athletics, while Goldfields and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation(GNPC) are synonymous with the Black Stars. However, the nature of these sponsorships is very often determined by the nature and peculiarity of the sponsoring organisations.

The focus of insurance companies, for instance, may be on how to mitigate the risks associated with the particular sport.

Whereas it is rare to record deaths on a sporting arena such as that involving a former Cameroonian International, Vivienne Foe, and the very recent death of an Ivorian International, Cheick Tiote, who died from heart attack on the field of training, player injury is quite a common phenomenon, and largely seen as ‘part of the game’. Indeed, sports such as hockey, boxing and football are often associated with high risk of injuries, as the nature of playing these games is sometimes rough.