ESLJ Volume 1 Number 2 Book Reviews
Sports Law and Litigation
by Craig Moore
2nd edn., Welwyn Garden City:
CLT Professional Publishing, 2000.
Pp.292, £42.00 (pb)
ISBN 1 858 11 257 5.
Reviewed by:
AMBI SITHAMPARANATHAN
Media Litigation Department
Schillings & Lom and Partners
To talk of a discrete body of 'sports law' is misleading. So said Craig Moore in the preface to the first edition of his book Sports Law and Litigation in 1997. Rather, a sports lawyer is concerned with the application of general legal principles in a myriad of sporting contexts. This is well illustrated by the approach taken by Moore throughout this, his second book, which consists of 12 chapters covering all the main substantive areas where sport and the law are inextricably linked.
In the introductory chapter, Moore highlights the speed at which the law surrounding sport has developed since the first edition of his book, particularly in terms of sports-related litigation. Inevitably this means that at the date of reviewing this book (February 2002) it is already out of date.
The first chapter provides a good introduction with a discussion of the government of sport and the roles of the different bodies involved in sport, ranging from administrators to governing bodies to central government. Through the discussion of Jones and Another v. Welsh Rugby Football Union (The Times, 6 March 1997), in which the High Court granted an injunction lifting the suspension imposed by the Welsh Rugby Union against a player until appeal, Moore illustrates how the courts have come to play a more central role in sport by quoting the learned judge in the case. Ebsworth J. stated that,
For many years sporting decisions had been made from the wet and windy touchlines but the modern professional game meant that such rulings now affected many people who earned their living from a game ... it was naive to argue that the decisions of disciplinary committees would not be challenged in court, because such sanctions imposed now had economic results on those affected.
This statement is testament to the increasing involvement of the law in sports-related activities. Sport has become one of the most popular global pastimes and most valuable commodities. It is inevitable that the law will play a central role in the development of this commodity.
The second chapter discusses the status of clubs and other sporting bodies from a commercial viewpoint. It contains useful analyses of the roles of private limited and public limited companies, unincorporated associations and clubs with charitable status, within a sporting club/association context. The book continues with the legal analysis of the effect of the commercial status of sporting clubs and bodies with a chapter on the taxation of sport. There is a useful analysis of those activities carried out by clubs and individuals that may give rise to tax liabilities.
The fourth chapter on 'Media, Sponsorship and Image Rights' is a welcome new addition to the second edition of this book. It is an area that is developing at an alarmingly fast rate because of the globalisation of sport and the increasing awareness of multinational corporations of the marketing value of stars such as David Beckham, Ronaldo and Anna Kournikova, to name but a few. This area is a minefield for litigators, with sports personalities and clubs both trying to maintain exclusive control over use of the player's identity, and entrepreneurial opportunists trying to make a 'fast buck' at the expense of another individual's legal rights. Moore provides an informative summary of the law and issues in this area such as broadcasting rights, restrictive practices, competition law, trademark registration, passing off, character merchandising and the rights of sponsors.
The next chapter is on the subject of sport and the criminal law. In his introduction, Moore states that the division of the criminal law and the law of tort in the subsequent chapter is artificial, as the two share a certain amount of common ground. The reviewer disagrees with this and is pleased that in the second edition of this book, the author has given sport and the law of tort a separate chapter. This is a constantly evolving area, largely because of the increasing number of injuries sustained in sporting events and the lack of redress available through the criminal courts.
The chapter on sport and the criminal law provides a concise summary of the implications of the criminal law upon various facets of the sporting world. There is brief discussion of injuries sustained on the field of play, as well as discussion of the disciplinary measures available through the governing bodies as an alternative to the criminal law. This is a very topical area at the moment, considering the sudden surge in spectator violence at football matches, with fans throwing missiles and players retaliating and facing potential criminal charges.
The following chapter on tort provides a much more detailed examination of the relationship between the law and sport with reference to player-on-player injuries, injuries sustained by spectators, the duty of care owed by professional bodies towards sportsmen, and the option of insurance as a form of redress for injured sportsmen, and concludes with a detailed discussion of the liability of golfers in tort.
The book also deals with a number of sports-related issues that the practitioner may rarely deal with, but by including these in the book the author provides the reader with interesting background information in a concise, intelligible summary of the law. For example, Chapter 7 deals with the interrelationship between law, sports, schools and local authorities. Chapter 8 deals with spectators, and Moore rightly envisages the conflict between the Football Disorder Act 2000 (at the time of his writing the Football Disorder Bill had been stalled) and the Human Rights Act 1998, a conflict which also demonstrates the increasing number of legal fields that are impacting upon sports, a natural consequence of which is that the subject of 'sports law' or 'sport and the law', whichever one prefers to call it, is developing at some speed.
Medicine and drugs in sport, is also given its own chapter, with a discussion of the history of doping back in 1866 to the contemporary doping cases. Consideration is given to the various medicines, illegal drugs and performance enhancing drugs, and the ramifications of the use of such drugs in a variety of sports.
A very useful detailed study of the contractual and employment aspects of sport is provided. This is, in the reviewer's opinion, one of the most useful chapters in the book, along with the chapter on 'Media, Image and Sponsorship', for the practitioner dealing with an individual sportsperson.
There are useful precedents contained in the Appendix, including letters before action, pleadings, application notices and even witness statements. Whilst they cannot be and are not meant to be definitive guides, they are nonetheless useful. One point that must be noted for future editions is that although he uses the correct terminology in the draft pleadings, Moore does occasionally lapse into pre-Woolf language and refer to 'plaintiffs'.
Sports Law and Litigation provides anyone practising sports law, be it for club, individual or governing body, with a useful guide to the various topics in this area such as the commercial to employment and intellectual property. [e?] It is not a definitive guide to sports law, nor does it attempt to be covering so many topics. [e?] In his preface, Moore states that the principal objective of this book is to assist the legal practitioner who already works in this area of the law, and to be a practical work of first reference for full-time litigators, as well as for those who may use it only once in a lifetime. Moore achieves this with ease with a book that is well-written and constructed, informative and thought-provoking, and in the reviewer's opinion a palatable introductory guide to sports law for academics of any level as well as to those practising in the field.
This is a book review published online on 11th February 2005
Citation: Sithamparanathan, Ambi, 'Sports Law and Litigation, by Craig Moore' Entertainment and Sports Law Journal (ESLJ) Volume 1, Number 1 <http://www.warwick.ac.uk/go/eslj/issues/volume1/number1/reviews/sithamparathan/>
