Former footballer Gary Ablett Sr is suing the AFL and two clubs, seeking millions of dollars in compensation for ongoing damage suffered from concussions.
Ablett on Monday launched proceedings in the Victorian Supreme Court against the AFL, Geelong Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club.
The 61-year-old claims he suffered concussions while training and playing throughout his VFL/AFL career, which ran between 1982 and 1997.
He alleges the sporting organisations knew or ought to have known the potential long-term consequences of concussion, and he was more vulnerable because of head strikes playing as a key forward.
The AFL and two clubs owed Ablett a duty of care and should have avoided exposing him to unnecessary risk of harm, the court writ states.
Ablett alleges the organisations breached that duty and were negligent, and he has subsequently suffered loss, injury and damage as a result of the concussions.
“Symptoms include memory loss, anxiety and depression,” Ablett’s lawyer Michel Margalit, from Margalit Injury Lawyers, told AAP.
“It’s particularly difficult to manage these degenerative concussion-related injuries in the face of being such a high-profile public figure because the anonymity does not exist.”
Ablett – who is claiming damages, interests and costs – is seeking compensation in the millions of dollars, Ms Margalit said.
That figure reflected years of medical expenses and the ongoing cost of care, she said.
The AFL has been contacted for comment.
Ablett, a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame and Team of the Century, is the latest former footballer to sue the sporting organisation over concussion-related injuries.
A class action led by former Melbourne player Shaun Smith, Adelaide Crows premiership player Darren Jarman and the family of the late Shane Tuck was launched last month.
A separate class action from Margalit Injury Lawyers is also seeking up to $1 billion in compensation from the AFL.
Ms Margalit said it was unlikely Ablett would join the class action because he started playing Australian rules football years before the other plaintiffs.
But she expected other former footballers to come forward with their own claims.
“Players are beginning to realise that these very unpleasant symptoms that they are suffering are not personal failings but rather symptoms of an injury,” she said.
Ablett’s statement of claim will be filed in the Supreme Court in the coming months before the defendants put forward their response.
