The Illinois House of Representatives has passed Zach’s Law—which requires soccer clubs, park districts, and other organizations with social goals, to use tip-resistant goals and to follow proper protocol to make sure the goals are anchored. Zachary Tran, the namesake of the bill, was a Vernon Hills boy who suffered a severe injury to his head on the soccer field, in 2003. Jayson Tran v. American Playground Corp, et al., the wrongful death case, settled for $2.5 million with American Playground company, $500,000 with the goal manufacturer, and $250,000 with the Vernon Hills Park District. In the lawsuit, the complaint alleges that the goalpost had no counterbalance and the ground stakes, which it relied upon for balance, were missing. This then struck Zach in the back of the head, resulting in his death.
The parents of Zachary Tran became advocates of soccer goalpost injury prevention. At the beginning stages of the litigation, the attorney for the Tran’s said they just wanted to warn people about the dangers of the goals and for this to never happen again. Zachary Tran’s family created Anchored for Safety (anchoredforsafety.org) which is a public awareness initiative for safe soccer goals. The personal injury attorney of the plaintiff in this case, Shawn S. Kasserman, assisted on the drafting of the bill, which is now waiting to be passed in the Senate (as of 4/22/11).
This bill is a step toward 1) eliminating soccer goals with a deadly design and 2) preventing severe brain injuries or even death. The bill will create the Movable Soccer Goal Safety Act and require organizations that own and control movable soccer goals to create a policy about soccer goal safety. This Act also bans the sale (and distribution) of goalposts that are not tip-resistant. Organizations will be given one year to comply with the Act.
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