Sports law

Contents
History of Sports and why sports cause conflict......................................................................................2
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
History....................................................................................................................................................3
Why sports cause conflict......................................................................................................................5
Union Royal Belge des Societe de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman [1995]...............7
Why the law has become involved in Sport.............................................................................................9

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History of Sports and why sports cause conflict
Introduction
No formal definition of sports law. However, it can be defined broadly to include every type of
physical activity or narrowly to exclude other physical activities.
Sports law in Ghana is regulated by the Sports Decree, 1976 (SMCD 54). It established the
National Sports Council, which, according to Section 3 of SMCD 54, is to be referred to as the
‘National Council’. The National Council’s objectives are –

 to promote and encourage the organization and development of, and mass participation in,
amateur and professional sports in Ghana; and to co-ordinate and integrate all efforts to raise the
standards of performance in amateur and professional sports throughout Ghana

Some of its functions, per Section 4 of SMCD 54 involve,

 Organizing and financially assisting the participation of Ghanaian sportsmen and sportswomen in
amateur and professional sports at District, Regional, National and International levels; Being
responsible for taking insurance cover for all sportsmen, sportswomen and sports officials
representing Ghana in or outside Ghana; Providing such financial and other assistance as the
Commissioner responsible for Sports may consider reasonable to any team or person for the
purpose of enabling that team or person to represent Ghana in International competitions in or
outside Ghana; Encouraging Ghanaians to participate in sporting activities in or outside Ghana,
etc..

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History
Sports is derived from a French word, “sporten” which means “to carry away”; Created as a form
of distraction, something that gives pleasure.
Throughout the Middle Ages sport in England mainly involved hunting of a variety of animals.
Archery, bowls and horse racing can be seen as early sports dating from the 16th century. Going
further back in time, the earliest evidence of boxing’s existence is recorded in Ethiopian
hieroglyphics around 4000 BC. The world’s oldest ball game is thought to have been played as
early as 1400 BC in Mexico. Hunting can be seen as the precursor of most modern sport. The
fact that forms of hunting persist today indicates its longevity.
In the beginning, sport was a religious cult and a preparation for life. Sport was not merely a
diversion or pastime but an essential feature of man’s existence. Sports taught humans endurance
and courage, essential qualities in a fighter. It helped eased tension, helped to get aggressiveness out
of the system and, altogether, served as an innocuous outlet for otherwise harmful urges. After all, to hit
an object was so much better than to hit a friend.

Another mainspring of sport was the need effectively to defend oneself, his tribe and later on, his
country. In panic and fear when escaping from danger, humans learned to run, jump, and swim.
To avoid defeat or to subdue opponents, archery, judo and karate were invented.
However, in some parts of the world where the severity of the elements and a low protein diet
endangered life, a healthy instinct led to the creation of sports for another reason. In cold
climates, games provided vital exercise, making the blood course through the veins, and created
warmth and resistance to the hazards of nature and the harshness of the weather. The wish to
survive explains the origin of most sports.
Sports also began as fertility magic, to ensure birth, growth, and the return of spring. Therefore,
sport to begin with was mainly a magical rite. It tried to attain human survival by supernatural
means. Numerous examples of this are at hand in ancient records and the practices of primitive
races. For example, A hill tribe in Assam, India, arranged a regular tug of war to expel demons.
The ceremony [it was not then a sport] took place at a fixed time each year. Two bands of men
(the original teams) stood on opposite banks of a river, each tugging at the end of a rope
stretched across the water. One team represented the forces of evil, the other those of increase in
nature. Whether trouble would haunt the tribe, or the sun would shine, literally depended on the
result of the struggle. For a similar reason, some Eskimos had seasonal games. In spring, the
players used a kind of cup and ball – to catch the sun. In the autumn, when the sun was going
south, a sort of cat’s cradle of seal gut was used to enmesh the sun and delay its departure. Sport
thus assumed even cosmic significance. The association of games with religious worship
continued from prehistoric times well into the classical period.
However, with the passing of time and frequent repetition of games, their original purpose was
forgotten, and people enjoyed the contests for their own sake, discovering in them a source of

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excitement, amusement, and strength. All these pursuits can be called ‘natural sports’, as they
‘naturally’ evolved from early rites, training for warfare and defense against threats of nature,
whether of the animate or inanimate kind.
Equally prominent in this class are sports now taken up for mere pleasure, which developed out
of the search for sustenance: hunting for food, catching fish, rowing, and sailing across rivers and
the sea. In the practice of these skills, a liking was acquired as well for them, independent of
their primary aim and they were pursued even after their original purpose no longer applied.
Even the Bible, though interested mainly in the spiritual aspect of existence, could not ignore
sporting activities altogether. Hebrew scripture mentions the use of the sling and the bow and the
New Testament abounds in references to games and St Paul, especially, aware of how much they
belonged to everyday life, makes frequent metaphorical use of them.
Sports, not least, have had their impact on the social ethics of man. Not accidentally do we
figuratively speak of ‘playing the game’, to ‘abide by the rules of the game’ or ‘hitting below the
belt’ and being a ‘spoilsport’.

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Why sports cause conflict
It is always amazing to hear people saying that sport creates goodwill between the nations, and
that if only the common people of the world could meet one another at football or cricket, they
would not be inclined to meet on the battlefield.
Even if one didn’t know from concrete examples (the 1936 Olympic Games, for instance) that
international sporting contests lead to orgies of hatred, one could deduce it from general
principles. Nearly all the sports practiced nowadays are competitive. You play to win, and the
game has little significance unless you do your utmost to win. At first instance, where you pick
up sides and no feeling of local patriotism is involved, it is possible to play simply for the fun
and exercise: but as soon as the question of prestige arises, as soon as you feel that you and some
larger unit supporting you will be disgraced if you lose, the most savage combative instincts are
aroused.
At the international level sport is frankly “stimulate warfare”. But the significant thing is not the
behaviour of the players but the attitude of the spectators and the nations behind the spectators.
Football is a game in which everyone gets hurt and every nation has its own style of play which
seems unfair to foreigners is the cause of a lot of ill-will. Worst of all is boxing -- One of the
most horrible sights in the world is a fight between white and colored boxers before a mixed
audience.
In countries like India, Burma or Ghana, it is necessary at football matches to have strong
cordons of police to keep the crowd from invading the field. The first big football match that was
played in Spain about twenty years ago led to an uncontrollable riot. As soon as strong feelings
of rivalry are aroused, the notion of playing the game according to the rules always vanishes.
People want to see one side on top and the other side humiliated, and they forget that victory
gained through cheating or through the intervention of the crowd is meaningless. Critical sport
has nothing to do with fair play. It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of
all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence: in other words, it is war minus the
shooting.
Most of the games we now play are of ancient origin, but sport does not seem to have been taken
very seriously between Roman times and the nineteenth century. Then, chiefly in England and
the United States, games were built up into a heavily financed activity, capable of attracting vast
crowds and rousing savage passions, and the infection spread from country to country. It is the
most violently combative sports; football, and boxing, that have spread the widest.
There cannot be much doubt that the whole thing is bound up with the rise of nationalism – that
is, identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the detriment of
the interests of other nations. This collided then with the modern habit of seeing everything in
terms of competitive prestige. Though sport is not one of the main causes of international rivalry;
it is merely another effect of the causes that have produced nationalism, conflicts and sometimes,
breakdowns in the construct of society. And this can be seen in not one, but several aspects of

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society; cost overruns and corruption, the closing of schools to make room for a hastily
constructed new stadium, violent animosity between taxi drivers and mass-transit workers,
constant disputes over the rigging of "draws" for the playoffs, allegations of bribery of referees,
nothing is spared. In Khartoum, a soccer game between Egypt and Algeria led to widespread
violence, a sharp exchange of diplomatic notes, a speech about affronted national honor from
President Hosni Mubarak, etc. In the India-Pakistan case the position is almost the reverse:
relations between the two countries had been poisonous enough for decades, but there is no
doubt that the cricket snub made a very bad situation even worse. The cricket snub occurred
when India’ Premier League failed to bid for any of the 11 Pakistani cricketers who had offered
themselves. Welcoming countries are also made the subject of ridicule and contempt because of
their decisions regarding sportsmanship. For instance, Canada, shortly to be the host of the
Winter Olympics in Vancouver, in 2010, became the object of a stream of complaints from
British and American sports officials, whose athletes were denied full access to the venue's ski
runs, tracks, and skating rinks. Familiarity with these is important in training and rehearsal, but
the Canadians were determined to protect their home-turf advantage.
In the Middle Ages sports were played, and probably played with much physical brutality, but
they were not mixed up with politics nor a cause of group hatreds.
In conclusion, whoever said that sports were a way to reconcile nations or amass peace among
countries had probably never been to a particularly intense football game before or been caught
up in a fight about a game they knew nothing about. Sports to a large extent does bring a lot of
relaxation and peace to a mass of people but only when played reasonably and according to the
rules involved with that specific sport. And not when the results of the game, especially big-scale
games, leads to mass genocide or stadia disasters because people do not want their teams to lose
face.

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Union Royal Belge des Societe de Football Association ASBL v Jean-
Marc Bosman [1995]
Also known as the Bosman ruling.
In a 1995, European Court of Justice made a decision concerning freedom of movement for
workers, freedom of association, and direct effect of article 39[2] (now article 45 of the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union) of the TEC. The case was an important decision on
the free movement of labour and had a profound effect on the transfers of footballers—and by
extension players of other professional sports—within the European Union (EU).
Facts:
Jean-Marc Bosman was a player for RFC Liège in the Belgian First Division whose contract had
expired in 1990. He wanted to change teams and move to Dunkerque, a French club. However,
Dunkerque refused to meet his Belgian club's transfer fee demand, so Liège refused to release
Bosman. In the meantime, Bosman's wages were reduced by 70% as he was no longer a first-
team player. He took his case to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and sued for
restraint of trade, citing FIFA's rules regarding football, specifically Article 17.
Holding:
On 15 December 1995, the court ruled the system, as it was constituted, placed a restriction on
the free movement of workers and was prohibited by Article 39(1) of the EC Treaty (now Article
45 (1) of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union). Bosman and all other EU
footballers were given the right to a free transfer at the expiration of their contracts if they
transfer from a club within one EU association to a club within another EU association. The
decision banned restrictions on foreign EU players within national leagues and allowed players
in the EU to move to another club at the end of a contract without a transfer fee being paid.
Significance:
Prior to the Bosman ruling, professional clubs in some parts of Europe were able to prevent
players from joining a club in another country even if their contracts had expired. In the United
Kingdom, Transfer Tribunals had been in place since 1981 to resolve disputes over fees between
clubs when transferring players at the end of their contracts. The Bosman ruling meant that
players could move to a new club at the end of their contract without their old club receiving a
fee. Players can now agree a pre-contract with another club for a free transfer if the players'
contract with their existing club has six months or less remaining. According to a 2021 study, the
Bosman ruling increased the competitiveness of national team football because it encouraged
greater talent development.[6] However, it reduced competition in the Champions League, as
non-established teams tended to sell their best players rather than compete against the best teams.
Significance to Players: Since the ruling came into effect throughout the EU in 1995, several
notable players in European football have benefited from the ruling. In 1996, Edgar Davids

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became Europe's first high-profile player to benefit from the ruling when he moved from Ajax to
Milan.

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Why the law has become involved in Sport
The law’s intervention in sports matters prior to 1980s was erratic. Until the law’s intervention in
sports matters, there has been a disproportionately large number of prosecutions questioning the
legality of boxing and prize fighting and a few other issues regarding contractual and financial
issues. This paved the way for an explosion in sports related litigation. There is now no doubt
that sport is subject to the law and that this subjection has not resulted in the end of sport as we
know it, despite claims that have been made by administrators and commentators almost every
time that a high-profile sporting case reaches the courts. There has been however, been the
difficulty in simply answering why so many cases have come before the courts and why the
Parliament has been more open to passing legislation on sporting issues. The complex and much
broader answer is discussed. Development of sports litigations is because of a series of unrelated
developments that were occurring in both sport and society from the late 1970s ad onwards.
First was the commercialization and commodification of sport, where people started to place bets
on players in various games as well as commercializing the players themselves. As sports
became more commercial, more money was invested into it, and this increased profits which in
turn led to disputes that required law and lawyers to resolve. Alongside this commercialization,
the marketing, branding, and repackaging of sport became more sophisticated; games and events
became products that could be sold to the highest bidder, which of course sometimes led to the
media popularizing on this commercialization, both negatively and positively to make profit
themselves -- Grobbelaar v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2002]. Here, the defendant was
liable in £85,000 worth of damages for defaming the claimant who was a former professional
footballer.
Secondly, stadia disasters of the 1980s finally force the government to take legislative action and
create regulatory frameworks that ensured that football stadia became safer places for spectators
to watch matches and football hooligans could be monitored and punished more effectively. At
the time, the European Commission had been warning UEFA that the transfer systems of players
among teams did not comply with the EU law. UEFA’s failure to act on these warnings caused
the law to get involved once more in another sport category; where the Bosman ruling [Union
Royal Belge des Societe de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman] was made, and
many cases followed it. The Bosman ruling meant that players could move to a new club at the
end of their contract without their old club receiving a fee.
However, there have been some aspects of sport that are untouched by legal interventions, and
these are the rules and codes of ethics that regulate the actual playing of games. It has regularly
been stated by National courts that they will refrain from reviewing the decisions of match
officials that are taken during a game. The only time courts may consider being involved in such
matters is when the application of the rules of the game promotes illegality in some way -
Pallante v Stadiums Pty Ltd (No 1). Here, the plaintiff suffered eye injuries because of losing a
boxing match with a significant mismatched opponent. The plaintiff sued the matchmaker
(referee) and the venue (Stadiums Pty Ltd) for their negligence in setting a boxing match with

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that significant mismatched opponent. However, the courts held that there had been implied
consent. Acceptance of inherent risks and that society had chosen to tolerate the activity of
boxing or contact sports. The judge said ‘Rough horseplay’ outside the sports rules will result in
potential liability, however. It is also possible that where an aspect of sport has become too
dangerous to be allowed to continue, the courts may require the NGB or ISF to change its rules.
For instance, bare knuckle fights.
In conclusion, the law engaged with sport for a variety of reasons. A combination of changing
circumstances in sport and society, together with the pursuit of specific political aims at national
and EU levels has led to the emergence of sports law. However, I believe that the most important
question is not “why has the law become involved in sport” but “where is sports law going
next”?

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