Criminal law has no place on the sports field. discuss

Authors Avatar

Tiffany Curtis (08236445) Brendan Greene LAW 1009

‘Criminal Law has no place on the sports field’. Discuss.

The sports of today has been widely reported and mediated to be more violent than sports in the past and for this basis there is more vital need for the law to take place within sports. Sports participants are no longer prepared to accept that all their injuries are necessarily an integral and inevitable part of the playing of sport. Where the person responsible is in the wrong, they are expected to get a form of punishment either from the Governing body or criminal law.  Recklessness is to be understood in this context as to taken an unjustified risk. Football and rugby have more than any sport attracted the most concerning amount of violence during games. The approach of violence on the game has been stated by Lord Lane “unlawful violence on the football field needs discouraging as much as violence on the terraces or indeed elsewhere”.  The participants of sports have some certainty that there is a risk of injury, although it is the rules which are imposed into sports which is said to avoid serious injury. They are a crucial guide in determining criminal liability. Where there is no proof of intention or recklessness to injure, participants who cause injury to others within reasonable application of the rules of sport can rely on the victims consent to potential harm . For example a foul tackle in a football game.

Join now!

In this essay I will explore and discuss argument for and against for Criminal Law on the sports field, by using relevant cases to make my arguments stronger.

There is a strong argument against criminal law intervening within sport.  Criminal prosecutions or civil claims arising from incidents which happen on the sports field were, until recently relatively rare. Until recently were it has become a norm. There is now nothing new in players suing over there injuries. But shouldn’t these sports injuries be left to the right professional body within sports to deal with.

 There is a famous legal maxim, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay