The traditional approach to sports governing bodies has been to view them as autonomousand private associations and thus immune from the intervention of the law. This view doesnot reflect the reality. Sport is an industry which accounts for around three percent of theEuropean Union's (EU) Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A number of recent scandals atinternational level including, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) andcorruption and extortion in the wake of widespread doping of Russian athletes and theFederation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the indictment of a number ofofficials on charges of racketeering and money-laundering. At a national level, the OlympicCouncil 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 toutingIrish allocation tickets. The Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) and the resignation ofBilly Walsh, the head coach of the high-performance unit culminated in a meeting of theJoint Committee on Transport and Communications. These scandals have highlighted theimportance of good governance and as a corollary the need for public confidence to berestored. The law has a role to play, however, the extent of its involvement has been thesubject of academic discourse.Sport and the Law identifies the main legal concepts and draws on case law and legislationfrom Ireland and adopts a comparative methodology as it examines other jurisdictionsincluding 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 insporting matters, sources of law and the definition of a sport with a discussion ofthe recent Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) decision in the caseof 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 andMixed Martial Arts (MMA);Civil liability and sport and its application to participants, referees, medics andcoaches;Drugs in Sport: the Irish Sport Anti-doping rules and decisions of the Irish SportAnti-Doping Disciplinary Panel, the GAA and doping, the World Anti-DopingAgency (WADA) and technological doping;Eligibility issues: athletes with differences of sex development, gender testing andtransgender athletes;Commercial issues and sport: athletes as employees and independentcontractors, contract law and its application to sports persons, the role ofsponsorship, broadcasting rights, image rights, merchandising and the law ofagency;Judicial review and sporting bodies;Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA), JustSport Ireland (JSI), Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada and SportResolutions UK and the Court of Arbitration for Sport;The impact of the European Union (EU) on sport: the free movement of sportspersons, and the role of EU competition law including the European Commissiondecision 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 thecurrent involvement and modern regulation of animals in sport, includinghorseracing, fox hunting and greyhound racing and doping in equestrian sportswith a discussion on the recent CAS arbitral award in the case of Lyle and Blythe vFederation Equestre Internationale (FEI) in relation to the FEI policy ofprovisionally suspending horses for two-months on the grounds of animal welfareand ensuring a level playing field.
