The High Court has ruled that a man who was injured in a fall at Tolka Rovers AFC & Sports Club was not a member of the club at the time of the accident, because its rules did not provide for associate membership.
Mr Justice Barr gave the ruling on 24 November 2021 after a trial of a preliminary point of law. The question was whether the plaintiff was a member on 5 February 2018. The court did not determine the underlying personal injury claim or whether the club was negligent.
The parties agreed for the preliminary application that the plaintiff had an accident on the club grounds, was lawfully on the premises, and was recorded on the membership roll as a fully paid-up associate member. He had paid subscriptions for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. The club was unincorporated, and Dermot O’Connor was sued as its secretary and nominee.
The plaintiff’s case in the substantive proceedings is that he fell when a pavement beside the clubhouse ended abruptly and dropped several inches. He alleges the club, as occupier, failed to keep the area safe and provide adequate lighting. The judgment says he suffered a right shoulder dislocation and an extension of a pre-existing rotator cuff tear, and later underwent shoulder replacement surgery. Those allegations and injuries were background to the preliminary issue, not findings on liability.
The club argued that the plaintiff’s membership, subscription payments and use of the bar facilities meant he was a member and could not maintain the claim against it. The plaintiff argued that associate membership was absent from the rules and could not be created by the committee without an amendment approved under the rules.
The judge found that the rules provided for full and ordinary members but not associate members. Although the plaintiff had accepted the associate designation, paid subscriptions and used club facilities, that conduct did not make the unauthorised membership category valid. The judgment also noted that the club had not explained when or why the category was introduced, and that the committee’s authority to create it had not been established.
The court therefore held that the plaintiff was not a club member when the accident occurred. The ruling addresses only that preliminary question; the personal injury proceedings remained unresolved in this judgment.