Dear DRC's,

Please be advised to help in the communication of the change in the
registration process namely the waivers and participants agreements, I have
sent this email below to all of the Regional, Provincial, National and FIFA
referees.  Due to the volume of District and Youth referees in the province
I am unable to send bulk emails to those referees, however hope that you
will be able to do this within your own districts as you see fit.


Dear Referees,

I have had four people approach me regarding concerns and questions
regarding the new referee waiver and participants agreement.  I have
emailed all the DRC's and District with a couple of information pieces
regarding these waivers to assist in clarifying any misconceptions or
concerns regarding these waivers.

In order to develop a better communication path I have decided that it best
to also email the referees as well. Due to the volume of District and youth
referees in this province I do not have the ability to email them however
felt as the leaders in the program as FIFA, National, Provincial and
Regional referees you need to understand the process and rationale and
hopefully when approached be able to explain the same message to the other
referees.

As mentioned the OSA has received feedback from 4 people regarding the
referee waivers and participants agreements.  From those discussions minor
clarification changes have been made to the documents which are included in
the registration documents on the OSA website.

In addition to the changes below is a summary of feedback given to those
concerned parties as well as a few questions that were needing
clarification.

Please read this information carefully and if you have any questions please
do not hesitate to contact me at the OSA office.


   Summary of response from the OSA lawyer

   Concern: An issue was raised regarding the language in the document - ,
   “include, but are not limited to injuries from…” leaves the list open to
   interpretation which would include injuries from assault.

   Response: The purpose of the language “include, but are not limited to
   injuries from…” is to indicate that it is not possible to list all the
   potential physical risks associated with refereeing soccer.  Physical
   risks are associated with all physical activity and are inherent,
   unavoidable and reasonable.  Canadian law says that participants can
   voluntarily assume the risks associated with a sport activity including
   soccer and refereeing soccer, therefore the OSA has attempted to
   describe the most obvious risks associated with refereeing soccer and
   the individual referee is informed of these risks prior to becoming
   involved with refereeing the game of soccer.

   The OSA is not seeking for referees to assume the risk of intentional
   assault of referee’s therefore changes have been made in the attached
   wavier to indicate such.

   The OSA has been involved in numerous litigious cases throughout its
   years of operation.  The waiver is being introduced as a risk management
   technique that transfers liability through this legal contract and is a
   common business practice.  As stipulated above, the OSA is not
   requesting Referee’s to give up all their legal rights with regard to
   insurance, which is in no way affected, but to become aware of the fact
   that there are inherent (Unintentional) injuries and risks related to
   refereeing soccer and to assume such risks which may include the
   negligence of the Organization.  Again, I believe it is important to
   reiterate that the OSA is not requesting referee’s to give up any
   insurance coverage (either accident of liability) or are they waiving
   any legal right with regard to intentional acts which cause damage or
   loss.

   A properly worded and executed waiver of liability can offer the OSA
   substantial protection from legal liability, therefore the waiver has
   been drafted to be clear and unambiguous, the foreseeable risks, dangers
   and hazards are specifically stated and all parties covered as clearly
   listed as well as the associated activities, hence the exhaustive list
   of OSA members listed in the waiver.

   A waiver is essentially a contract and both all parties must have a
   common understanding what the contract entails.  A waiver fairs a far
   better chance of being deemed valid if it is clearly and concisely
   written.  The person signing the waiver should clearly understand its
   meaning.   Applicable sections include a description of the risks, the
   release or waiver of liability and the acknowledgement.

   Concern: An issue has been raised with regard to whether signing the
   waiver is voluntary.

   Response:  All parties to contracts must enter into such contracts
   voluntarily, meaning there was no duress at the time of acknowledgment.
   The language on the waiver is to indicate that the referee signing the
   waiver is not under duress to enter into such agreement.  The referee is
   free not to sign the agreement but may not be eligible to referee soccer
   games for the OSA and its members. This has been common practice in the
   OSA for the 380,000 plus players annually since 2006.



In addition to the above the below four topics are areas that have been
suggested that need clarification.  Please find the questions and answers
below.


      By signing this waiver do it effect the referees accident and
      liability coverage from the OSA?

         Not at all, the waiver is only there to defend the OSA in such
         frivolous lawsuits that a referee will try and sue the OSA for

         To give you an example.  A referee is refereeing a match, and half
         way through the first half the referee trips and breaks their
         ankle because they tripped on a small hole in the ground.  This
         would be considered an inherent risk of soccer and the waiver
         would be in effect.  If the referee attempted to sue the club,
         league District Association or OSA because of this, our first line
         of defense would be that the referee signed the waiver and
         accepted this risk.  Even though there are no grounds to sue any
         of these parties anyway, the waiver is there to protect the OSA
         from these law suits.  However if the referee because they tripped
         over the pot hole need a $500 ankle brace the insurance coverage
         under the accident policy would still pick up that cost under the
         policy.  So the accident policy has nothing to do with the waiver.

         Another example, if a referee is sued because a player was injured
         on the field and the referee was sued the OSA liability coverage
         is not effected and the referee would still be covered and defend
         by the OSA's insurance policy.

      If a referee is assault is this covered by the waiver?

         NO! All intentional acts are not covered under this waiver.  Any
         intentional act is been excluded from the waiver and a referees
         liability is not released.  Any act deemed to be referee assault
         is considered intentional.


      Are the referees the only OSA participants that have to sign this
      document?

      NO! Since 2006 all 380,000 plus players in Ontario have been signing
      the exact same waiver or participants agreement, as well as coaches
      registered with the OSA.  Those waivers are protecting the referee in
      the same manner against frivolous law suits against the OSA and it
      members including the referees.

      Why the waiver for referees now, is this a reaction to a current or
      recent case?

      NO! The waiver is a requirement from the OSA Insurance company.  The
      sole purpose is to protect the OSA and it members from frivolous law
      suits from it members.  With recent changes to Ontario laws the
      Insurance industry has noticed a steady increase in the number of
      frivolous law suits over the past couple of years.  The demand from
      the OSA insurance company to have these waivers in place is to try
      and stop those frivolous law suits.  The intent is not to stop law
      suits with merit against the OSA and its members.


Regards,

Andrew Backer, Manager - Referee Development, The Ontario Soccer
Association
Tel: 905-264-9390   ext 238  Fax: 905-264-9445