The traditional approach to sports governing bodies has been to view them as autonomous
and private associations and thus immune from the intervention of the law. This view does
not reflect the reality. Sport is an industry which accounts for around three percent of the
European Union's (EU) Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A number of recent scandals at
international level including, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and
corruption and extortion in the wake of widespread doping of Russian athletes and the
Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the indictment of a number of
officials on charges of racketeering and money-laundering. At a national level, the Olympic
Council of Ireland (OCI) and its former President, Pat Hickey were the subject of a nonstatutory inquiry following the incarceration of Hickey in a Rio prison for allegedly touting
Irish allocation tickets. The Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) and the resignation of
Billy Walsh, the head coach of the high-performance unit culminated in a meeting of the
Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. These scandals have highlighted the
importance of good governance and as a corollary the need for public confidence to be
restored. The law has a role to play, however, the extent of its involvement has been the
subject of academic discourse.
Sport and the Law identifies the main legal concepts and draws on case law and legislation
from Ireland and adopts a comparative methodology as it examines other jurisdictions
including England and Wales, Canada and Australian. It covers topics including:
Sports governance at domestic and international level;
Sports law or sport and the law, the extent to which the law should involve itself in
sporting matters, sources of law and the definition of a sport with a discussion of
the recent Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) decision in the case
of The English Bridge Union Limited v Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue
& Customs;
Violence in sport and the application of the criminal law with a focus on the GAA,
Ice Hockey and the response of the Canadian authorities and courts, boxing and
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA);
Civil liability and sport and its application to participants, referees, medics and
coaches;
Drugs in Sport: the Irish Sport Anti-doping rules and decisions of the Irish Sport
Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel, the GAA and doping, the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA) and technological doping;
Eligibility issues: athletes with differences of sex development, gender testing and
transgender athletes;
Commercial issues and sport: athletes as employees and independent
contractors, contract law and its application to sports persons, the role of
sponsorship, broadcasting rights, image rights, merchandising and the law of
agency;
Judicial review and sporting bodies;
Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA), Just
Sport Ireland (JSI), Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada and Sport
Resolutions UK and the Court of Arbitration for Sport;
The impact of the European Union (EU) on sport: the free movement of sports
persons, and the role of EU competition law including the European Commission
decision regarding the eligibility rules of the International Skating Union (ISU);
Child protection and sport: legislative and non-legislative provisions;
Judicial review and sporting bodies;
Animals in Sport: the decline of blood sports in the nineteenth century to the
current involvement and modern regulation of animals in sport, including
horseracing, fox hunting and greyhound racing and doping in equestrian sports
with a discussion on the recent CAS arbitral award in the case of Lyle and Blythe v
Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) in relation to the FEI policy of
provisionally suspending horses for two-months on the grounds of animal welfare
and ensuring a level playing field.
