On the 8 May the Advertising Standards Agency, published their adjudication on Cassava Enterprises (Gibraltar) Ltd. The case is interesting as it relates to the use of advertisements via social media platforms and what this may mean for gaming companies with wider implications for sports professionals and their brand management which we will explore below. 

The recent case involving Henning Berg and Blackburn Rovers highlighted a number of problems that currently engulf the club but it also raised an interesting legal question. Does a Managing Director of a football club have authority to sign and enter into a contract of employment with a football manager on behalf of the club?

Much has been written since the FA handed down a 10 game ban about the proportionality of response and the impartiality of the independent panel set up to investigate the Suarez incident. However, it is worth taking a moment to consider the political and commercial consequences of Suarez’s latest transgression.

I recently advised Sheffield United FC (SUFC) on its successful defence of a training compensation claim before the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC). SUFC faced a significant training compensation claim due to its acquisition of a young international football player from France.

Haven’t done anything for a while here but was watching the highlights of a hurling match a few weeks ago when a fairly sickening challenge occurred which led to a player being concussed.

That tackle prompted this blog.

Although in my sports legal career to-date I have focussed primarily on match-fixing, I also research and lecture on sports integrity and anti-corruption more widely. Therefore I could not sit on my hands when the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (‘CONCACAF’) Integrity Committee’s ‘Report of Investigation’ (‘Report’) (the executive summary and full report of which can be found here) was presented to the CONCACAF Congress on Friday 19 April 2013 and felt a blog coming on...

It is undisputed that, as a general principle, training compensation must be paid to a player’s training club when a player signs his first professional contract with another club and on each further transfer until the end of the football season of his 23rd birthday (Article 20 of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players 2010 (Regulations)).

This blog examines the increasing power of sponsors and whether current multi-club ownership rules do enough to protect the integrity of the game in light of the increasingly complex relationship between clubs, owners and sponsors. 

In the first two parts of this blog we have explored the right to be offensive and the right to be offenses, however it is difficult to know where banter ands and criminal liability begins. 

Carrying on form the points raised in the first blog of this series, it is important for individuals with a vested interest in their brand identity to educate themselves as to the potential pitfalls of inappropriate use of social media. However, sometimes the issue can go further than inter club politics and player frustration.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s decision that West Yorkshire Police (WYP) is not entitled to charge Leeds United Football Club ("the Club") for policing services provided outside property owned or controlled by the Club.

Are the R&A and USGA about to run in to an unexpected legal play-off?  Adam Scott’s victory in the Masters last weekend signified a landmark moment in more ways than one. Not only was it the first victory for an Australian in what is arguably golf’s most prestigious tournament, it also marked the completion of a career grand slam for the anchored putter following victories for Keegan Bradley (2011 PGA Championship), Webb Simpson (2012 US Open) and Ernie Els (2012 Open). Scott’s triumph at Augusta has now served to fan the flames of golf’s hottest debate.

Earlier this year on Tuesday 29 January, 5 days before Super Bowl XLVII, Sports Illustrated (‘SI’) (the esteemed sports magazine in the United States) ran a story that gave All-Pro future Hall of Famer and NFL legend Ray Lewis a further distraction in the already manic lead up to the biggest single sports show on Earth, which was also to be his final game. SI claimed that Lewis had obtained deer antler spray from controversial supplement company Sports with Alternatives to Steroids (‘SWATS’) and used it to aid his comeback from a torn tricep injury earlier in the season. What of it you may ask?

While the issue of protecting the club’s image from negative social media postings is considered in some of my other posts on LawInSport, one area which remains under analysed is what this means for the individual as a brand in their own right.

This blog provides a brief update on the developments in the NHL with regards to the Sochi 2014 and conference  realignment plans. This  follows on from our February blog in-depth analysis of the NHL Lockout and our March blog in which we explained the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that ensured players would lace up their skates for a shortened 2013 season.