Clark v Commissioner of Police [2002] NSWCC 40

Compensation Court of New South Wales

CITATION : Clark v Commissioner of Police [2002] NSWCC 40 revised - 3/11/2003 Geoffrey Clark PARTIES : v Commissioner of Police MATTER NUMBER(S) : 12247 of 2001 JUDGMENT OF: Neilson J at 1 CATCHWORDS: Appeal :- LEGISLATION CITED: CASES CITED: DATES OF HEARING: 02/09/02 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 09/02/2002

FOR APPLICANT: Mr J Trainor instructed by Oates & Smith appeared for the applicant. LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: FOR RESPONDENT: Ms A Stenmark instructed by Court & Legal Services appeared for the respondent.

JUDGMENT: 1. This is an appeal pursuant to s 21 of the Police Regulation (Superannuation) Act 1906. The appellant, Senior Constable Geoffrey William Clark, seeks a determination that an injury he sustained whilst playing Rugby League on 20 August 1991 was caused by the appellant's having been hurt on duty. The appellant is currently 37 years of age. He joined the New South Wales Police Service in September 1985. At the time of joining the New South Wales Police Service the appellant was a professional Rugby League player. In 1987 he played for the North Sydney Rugby League Club when he dislocated his right ankle. I infer that he played for North Sydney in 1988 and in 1989 he played in reserve grade for the Balmain Rugby League Club. Thereafter he played no professional football because there were no contracts offered to him. 2. When the appellant was posted to duty it was to general duties at Sydney Central Police Station. He performed general duties until 1988 when he became a plain-clothes constable attached to the detectives' office at Central. In 1989 he joined the Kings Cross detectives again as a plain-clothes constable but in 1990 he was transferred back to Sydney Central detectives' office. In March 1991 the appellant was appointed a detective of police. In 1989 whilst the appellant was playing professional Rugby League for Balmain he joined a police Rugby League football team. The appellant referred to it as the A District team and it has also been referred to as the Sydney District team. 3. From Exhibit C, extracts from the New South Wales Police Service Weekly, it is clear that there is a body known as the New South Wales Police Rugby League Football Association. I infer that that association is a voluntary association formed by members of the New South Wales Police Service. According to Exhibit C, the coach of the Sydney District team is Steve Colman whom the applicant identified as being a sergeant in the licensing branch at Kings Cross. It is clear that there is a regular winter competition run by the New South Wales Police Rugby League Football Association. There would appear to be 16 teams in the competition which had been formed from New South Wales Police Districts, as they were then known, and included are teams from Gosford and Wollongong. The other teams appear to be all metropolitan teams, assuming that "K" district is in fact a metropolitan district. 4. The New South Wales Police Service Weekly is published by the New South Wales Police Department and I infer carries official notices as well as notices relating to policemen generally. An extract from the Police Service Weekly bearing date 15 April 1991 gives the results of the first round of the competition for 1991. It was of course in 1991 that the appellant was injured. The inference I draw from the appellant's evidence is he played a few games in the competition in 1989 and then played throughout the 1990 competition and played in the 1991 competition until he was injured. It would appear from the Police Service Weekly of 15 April 1991 that in 1990 the Sydney District team won the overall competition. The Police Service Weekly for 15 April 1991 contains this matter: Coming Up. Last year's runners up, Eastern Suburbs, were out for revenge when they met Sydney District in this week's grand final rematch at Reg Bartley Oval, Rose Bay, on Thursday 4 April 1991. Sydney District coach, Steve Colman, was confident that last week's close call with Redfern would have shaken out any complacency in his ranks. Easts coach, Mark Cross, is adamant the Wombats won't have to emulate last year's run of 11 wins on the trot to seal their final's berth. The notice then goes on to give the draw for rounds two, three, four and five of the competition, then contains an advertisement for a sports lunch to be held called the "Police Rugby League Sports Lunch" , then contains the following matter: