Sports law

This Unit examines the governance of sport through multiple lenses: public policy, regulatory and legal, and at both a national and transnational level.  The Unit begins by examining the place of sport in society, and how sports' social, cultural, economic and political importance shapes government policy towards it.  Next the Unit will examine how this balance translates into a regulatory system of great sophistication: private and public; decentred and networked; and national and transnational.  The Unit then explores how these policy and regulatory settings have influenced the development and application of the law to sport.  In this regard, the Unit explores what has become known as "sports law" that covers both:

• traditional legal concepts applied to sport (including contract and employment law to sports persons' employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements; competition, equal opportunity and anti-discrimination law to the rules and practices by which sporting competitions are organised and conducted; and criminal and torts law to on-field violence and sports related injuries); and
• sport specific rules and institutions (including sports' anti-doping codes and institutions, rules concerning corruption, gambling and match-fixing, and sports' system of tribunals and dispute resolution).

Finally, the Unit concludes by considering what insights and lessons can be drawn from the governance of sport to inform the development of regulatory systems and law making more broadly.