BOOK REVIEW
SPORT: LAW AND PRACTICE BY ADAM LEWIS QC & JONATHAN TAYLOR THIRD EDITION 2014 BLOOMSBURY PROFESSIONAL LIMITED UNITED KINGDOM PAGES 1966 + CXIV ISBN: 978 1 78043 1130 HARDBACK PRICE: £235
This is a hefty tome with a hefty price, but well within the financial means of sports bodies and sports lawyers, who are nowadays engaged in a multi-billion dollar industry around the world, and who will find this magnum opus a must-have vade mecum! It will also prove to be a very valuable resource for students of Sports Law, who will be able to obtain copies at a reduced price through the Publisher’s student voucher scheme.
The Law is stated as of 1 June, 2013 (a month and a half before the landmark decision of the European Court of Justice dismissed the UEFA and FIFA Appeals in the so-called ‘Crown Jewels’ Cases, which, of course, is not covered); and the new Book updates the second edition of the work, which appeared on 1 October 2008. Since then, sports legal issues and cases have continued to develop and expand at a staggering rate, as Sport itself has developed exponentially as a global industry in its own right: worth more than 3% of world trade and 3.7% of the combined GNP of the twenty-eight Member States of the European Union (EU). Good timing, therefore, for a new edition of this Book.
The latest edition includes new Chapters on match-fixing; financial regulation; on-field misconduct; and selection disputes, all of which subjects are of increasing importance to the global sporting community and its various stakeholders, as well as those advising them.
One area of particular interest that continues to dominate the international scene is the ever- expanding application of EU Law in general and EU Competition Law in particular to Sport. Since the landmark European Court of Justice Decision in the Jean-Marc Bosman case in 1995, there has been a plethora of EU Sports Law cases, such as Meca-Medina, Olivier Bernard and MOTOE, which have had a significant impact on the practice and regulation of sport, not only within the EU but also beyond its borders, especially in relation to countries which are Associate Members of the EU – cases such as Kolpak, Simutenkov and Kahveci involving Czech, Russian and Turkish sports persons respectively and their right to work in EU Member States. The subject of EU Law and Sport is a very important one, both in theory and in practice, and is well covered and the authors of this Part of the Book are to be congratulated accordingly!
There is also a very good section on the settlement of sports-related disputes through the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which this year celebrates its thirtieth birthday and is generally regarded as the ‘Supreme Court of World Sport’ as its founders intended it should be. Again, this subject, which is close to the heart of your Reviewer, is well covered in the Book.
One other section of the Book that is worthy of special mention is the new one on Match-Fixing and Corruption in Sport, which has and continues to receive extensive media coverage and which threatens the very heart and integrity of Sport. The authors of this section are not only to be congratulated on their extensive coverage of the subject, including the responses to date to this scourge of Sport from Sports Governing Bodies, but also on their copious and very helpful footnotes and references to important sources and materials.
The Book also includes a useful section on Taxation and Financial Planning for elite sportsmen and women, which will be of particular interest to sports tax advisers, and is completed by extensive Tables of Cases, Statutes and Statutory Instruments, as well as a workmanlike Index.
The Authors and their Specialist Contributors, many of whom are leading practitioners in the sports law field, are to be praised and their efforts appreciated for publishing the Third Edition of this Book, which constitutes a veritable and useful compendium of Sports Law, even though the title of the Book (‘Sport: Law and Practice’) appears to be deliberately neutral, thereby avoiding the continuing debate, amongst academics and practitioners alike, as to whether there is such a discrete body of legal principles that can properly be called and regarded by jurists as ‘Sports Law’. Your reviewer considers that there is such a thing as ‘Sports Law’ - both at the national and international levels - and, furthermore, that the Book itself and its comprehensive coverage of this evolving subject clearly demonstrates and corroborates that point of view!
No self-respecting Sports Lawyer, therefore, should be without a copy of this fine Book!
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw is an International Sports Lawyer, Academic, Author and Member of the CAS and may be contacted by e-mail at ‘This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ’
