Worcester issue statement after Fatialofa comments

Worcester Warriors have issued a statement after recent comments from New Zealand-born lock, Michael Fatialofa.

Fatialofa was severely injured in the first week of January 2020 while turning out for Worcester against Saracens.

The 28 year-old suffered a C4 vertebrae fracture and spinal contusion which left him paralysed. He has since made remarkable progress in his recovery, however.

Warriors issued the following statement:

“We are disappointed and surprised to read Michael’s comment on social media about outstanding hospital fees as we have heard nothing from him or anyone since he returned from New Zealand before Christmas.

To be clear we will always be here to support him and are just a phone call away.

We are also concerned that the hospital where he was treated still seem to be contacting Michael about unpaid fees because we are also waiting for a response to our last communication with them.

The club has already paid the fees it was responsible for –  running into tens of thousands of pounds – which was over and above the club’s obligations and insurances. Neither the club nor Michael are responsible for any additional fees.

We invited the hospital to follow the correct procedure and claim the fees from the Clinical Commissioning Group, with our full support and thanks for the care shown to Michael. We have heard nothing back from the hospital or the CCG and this is the first we have heard from anyone on this issue.

The situation remains as we stated in our previous statement last July. We have done everything we can to move matters forward. We did contact the hospital as promised and even chased a reply. We are still waiting for a response from them. Only the hospital can put the request into the CCG not us, that is not how the system works.

It appears Michael has misunderstood correct procedure on this, but we remain committed to supporting him on resolving these fees.

We care deeply about Michael, have a desire to support him, we went above and beyond on his rehabilitation even after his contract had finished – including paying for visas  – and want him to know we will always be here for him.

HCR Law, our club lawyers, are on standby to protect Michael if the hospital try to claim the fees from either of us instead of following correct procedure and submitting a claim to the CCG.

We are happy to speak with the Pacific Islanders Player Association and would be grateful for any help they can offer in protecting Michael.

The Royal Buckinghamshire hospital did a fantastic job of caring for Michael and we are hopeful they do not sour what is otherwise a fantastic success story in Michael’s miracle recovery from such a serious injury. We await their response.”