Roanoke attorney, Winchester family fight for soccer goal safety
By Angela Hatcher
WSLS10 Reporter/Anchor
Published: August 20, 2009
Ten year old Hayden Ellias was as happy inside a soccer goal as anywhere else. Unfortunately, it’s the last place his mother Mary saw him alive.
"He was down in goal, saved a goal, kicked the ball to the other end of the field and pretty much the attention was down on that end of the field and we heard a noise.“, says Mary Ellias. “I looked down there and saw Hayden on the ground with the goal on top of him."
No one at the soccer field in Winchester saw how the goal landed on Hayden. The only thing anyone knows for sure is the goal wasn’t anchored.
"Most of these goals do not contain proper counter balancing and are extremely top heavy which makes them extremely unstable.“, says the family’s attorney, Paul Thomson.
Roanoke attorney Paul Thomson represented the Ellias family in a successful lawsuit against the goal’s manufacturer and various soccer associations. Thomson says there have been three more deaths, two brain injuries and a paralysis from incidents with soccer goals since Hayden’s death in 2007.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission counted more than 20 deaths over 16 years when it issued soccer goal safety guidelines back in 1995. The CPSC suggests ground anchors or sandbags.
"It’s just extremely important the goals are weighted down.", says Danny Beamer of the Roanoke Star Soccer Club.
Beamer has seen goals fall, but fortunately has never witnessed a child get hurt.
"After each training session and game we remove them from the field and lock the goals up face to face now.", says Beamer. "We just can’t take the chance of unsupervised players hanging on the crossbar, hanging on the net."
Hayden’s mother isn’t taking for granted others will check the goals.
"There was more to this than just us walking up to a soccer field when we got there.", says Mary Ellias. "We needed more people to realize this is a serious issue."
The Ellias family has set up a website, Haydensgoal.org, to share safety information.
