Key Sports Law Cases And Developments Of 2021 – UK & Ireland

As we come to the end of a turbulent and challenging year, we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the important legal cases and developments from the world of sports law of 2021.

Therefore, we invited members of our Editorial and Advisory Board, who are experts in this field, to share their opinions on what they consider to be the key sports law cases & developments from 2021. In this article are the responses from our UK & Ireland members. 

With so much happening in 2021, we hope this series of articles will serve to provide a useful not only in identifying specific cases and issues, but also in detecting broader global themes when read in conjunction with the contributions from other jurisdictions.

We would like to thank each member of our Editorial and Advisory Board for taking the time out of their busy schedules to share their views with us, and also more broadly for their significant input into LawInSport over the course of the year.  Thank you.

Contributors:

• Alex Haffner, Partner, Fladgate LLP
  • The ill-fated European Super League experiment
• Prof Mark James, Manchester Law School & Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport
  • Athlete Activism
  • Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter and its application at Tokyo 2020
• Andrew Smith, Barrister, Matrix Chambers
  • British Horseracing Authority v Robbie Dunne
• Robert McTernaghan, Barrister with a specialisation in Sports Law, Bar of Northern Ireland & Ireland
  • Human rights & sport
• Mark Hovell, Partner, Mills & Reeve
  • Arbitration between the Professional Footballers Association and the English Football League
• Rupert Beloff, Barrister, 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square & Kings Chambers
  • UK Sports Councils updated guidance for transgender inclusion in domestic sports
• Louis Weston, Barrister, Outer Temple Chambers
  • Azeem Rafiq v Yorkshire Cricket Club
  • Bullying and harassment case in British horseracing
• Leigh Thompson, Head Of Policy, Sport And Recreation Alliance
  • Continued COVID impacts
  • Domestic policy and legislative developments
• Nick De Marco QC, Barrister, Blackstone Chambers
  • Sports Arbitration, independence, and transparency
• Alistair McHenry, Director, Walker Morris LLP
  • Major sporting events take place after their cancellations
  • The Crouch Report
• Sohail Ali, Partner, DLA Piper (With the Assistance of Benjamin Fellows, Senior Associate, DLA Piper)
  • Diversity & Inclusion in Sport
  • Liability in sport – Tylicki v Gibbons
  • Single Customer View – sharing of data amongst gambling operators
  • Gambling Act reform
• Alex Kelham, Partner, Lewis Silkin LLP
  • The emergence of Web 3.0
• Tim O’Connor- Barrister, Irish Bar
  • The rise of private equity in sport
  • Streaming and OTT services going mainstream
• Lydia Banerjee, Barrister, Littleton Chambers
  • Shining the spotlight on athlete welfare & safeguarding
• Jon Walters, Partner, Northridge Law
  • Diversification of sports revenue streams