History of Sports Law

Intro

By definition, sports can be said to be an activity that involves physical and mental skill. That involves competition of an individual or team against another or others for entertainment. However, in reality, every single sport can be truly defined by their very nature.

Sports has been an inalienable part of human civilization since time immemorial – from playing ‘football’ with improperly stitched leather to batting with a broom – even India’s freedom struggle got a further boost when a native football club, Mohun Bagan had defeated a British club.

History of Sports Laws

Traditionally, disputes originating during cricket, football, tennis, wrestling or other sports matches were solved with the norms and prevailing laws of the society. At that time, sports laws were managed by non-profit institutions and a solid, institutional structure to maintain and implement such laws was missing. As a result, everybody considered sports laws to be an amalgamation of various existing civil laws in the society: like Contract, Labour, Tax, Anti-doping and other such laws, including Intellectual Property Rights. Sports Law was nothing more than the general law applied to the sportsperson or body.

Evolution of sports laws:

The gradual evolution of sports – from radio broadcasting to digital viewership – gave birth to a foison of legal complexities and confusions, in the absence of concrete laws to govern and regulate the sports sector. Hence, a desperate requirement was felt to mitigate the confusions. Besides, the traditional approach to deal with sports-related issues came to be criticised by various sports enthusiasts and theorists.

To match the present commercial adaptation of sports, and to support its further development, it was felt to be protected with a legal backbone. Hence, framing of separate and concrete sports laws assumed importance to foster harmony, maintain equality, unity, safeguarding of economic interests and finally, to maintain peace and public order.

Thus, the international sports law took birth with the introduction of international treaties like the Lisbon treaty and other conventions. International sports governing bodies, like the FIFA, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the International Cricket Council (ICC), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), etc. work for the management of rules and regulations- governing international sports- at the global turf. The duty of these aforementioned institutions is to set rules and regulations of the sport they govern. They are free to set-up their personal internal governance mechanism, vigilance, and dispute resolving mechanisms for efficient resolution of disputes.

Arbitration of disputes:

Various sports organisations have their own dispute resolution policies and procedures. However, disputes like Contract, Labor, Intellectual Property, Commercial and Doping had either chances of may or may not be getting mitigated through local courts depending on the jurisdiction in which the issue is raised.

Hence, in order to get justice and for the effective settlement of the disputes concerned, an international court, termed as “The Court of Arbitration for Sports” (CAS) was established as the nodal institution for handling international disputes.

The CAS is the apex body – like the President’s mercy petition in India – to appeal for the resolution of any dispute related to sports. However, to keep the activities of the CAS under check and to monitor its impartiality, the “International Council of Arbitration for Sports” (ICAS) was also formed.

The USA:

In the US, there is no specific body of law called the ‘Sports Law.’ A board of governors, having team owners or their representatives has been constructed, who are vested with the power to appoint a chief executive officer (CEO), who is entrusted with the duty to manage day-to-day activities and governing of sports leagues.

The leagues are granted permission by the US State and federal governments to regulate their own rules. However, professional sports leagues are bound to accept State and federal laws that are connected to the former’s business activities.

At the apex level, a number of laws like Sherman Antitrust Act, the Copyright Act, the Lanham Act, to name a few, are under the charge of the regulation of sports law. While at the state level, the same duty has been shouldered on state contract laws and state tort laws.

Besides mitigating at the court level, sports disputes can also be settled through ADR processes like arbitration or mediation. And various courts, nowadays, are emphasising on ADR rather than directly contesting cases in courtrooms. Hence, resolution bodies or tribunals like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Major League Baseball Players Association have been formed to settle such disputes.

India:

Unlike that in the US, in India, sports laws work independently of the domestic courts’ influence – as per the Olympic Charter – thereby, narrowing down the scope of the Union/state’s control over sports federations. The Indian Olympic Association controls and manages everything related to India’s representation at international levels and further promoting of sports. For cricket and football, the BCCI and the AIFF, respectively, enjoy autonomous and independent charge to manage their specific affairs.

Conclusion:

Since the birth of sports till the present, a passel of revolutions have taken place in the sports world. Old societal norms guiding sports behaviorals have been replaced with new and contemporary civil and criminal laws, having their own uniqueness and loopholes.

However, besides stringent laws, it’s equally necessary to implement those laws with utmost humanity and sound ethical rationale, so that in future, the elimination of some ‘Vinesh Phogat’ does not seem to be an injustice and the triumph of any ‘Imane Khelif’ does not start a new controversy- ultimately eroding sports lovers’ faith in rules and laws.