Sport and the law

This Unit explores the intersection of sport and law and in so doing: 1. equips students to apply the body of knowledge known as "sports law"; and 2. consolidates, reinforces and extends students' knowledge and understanding of core legal subjects central to the practice of law.

The Unit begins by examining the place of sport in our society, and how changes in society, and how society perceives sport (and sport perceives itself), has influenced the development and application of the law to sport. In doing so, the Unit will examine sport in its various guises, local, national and international; professional and amateur; contact and non-contact; and explore sports' social, cultural, economic and political importance. Next, the Unit explores the extent to which sport's "specificity" (its unique social and cultural standing and need for "competitive balance") has seen legislatures and courts modify the application to it of traditional legal concepts. Areas to be examined include the application of criminal law to on-field violence; tort and OHS law to sports related injuries; contract and employment law to sports persons' employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements; and competition, equal opportunity and anti-discrimination law to the rules and practices by which sporting competitions are organised and conducted. The Unit then explores the development of unique legal rules and institutions tailored to sports persons and sporting activities. These include sports' anti-doping codes, rules concerning corruption, gambling and match-fixing, and unique systems of self-regulation and dispute resolution (e.g., World Anti-Doping Agency and Court for Arbitration of Sport).. Finally, the Unit concludes by considering the extent to which this body of knowledge evidences a specific corpus of jurisprudence recognisable as "sports law", and what we can learn from it about the development of the law more generally. The Unit's focus is on domestic Australian law, but with an eye to how developments in other parts of the world could influence the evolution of the law and practice in Australia.