IS IT LEGAL TO REGULATE SPORTS? DEVIKRISHNA, II BSL.LL.

B The front pages of newspapers are generally reminders of human idiocy - dishonesty, corruption, rape, kill, illicit sex and drug abuse. Therefore, many sidestep the front news and move on to the sports section to explore something more exciting. However, recently sports have had an unusual sprint on the front page owing to its own flawing. The doping cases, match fixing in cricket matches, corruption relating to organising of various games. All these reveal the cynicism of sports. Human beings are drawn in sports activities since times immemorial. From the initial days of human civilization till date, sports have evolved from a source of personal entertainment to a global industry encompassing more than 3% of world trade. Sports have also evolved from a leisure activity to more formal sports. It is one of the main revenue generating industries of the world and with the propagation of the Internet and other forms of media, the sports industry is growing at a faster tempo. An industry of billions of dollars with an allencompassing worldwide presence is bound to raise its own disputes. This brings about a need for regulation of the sports industry. Another reason for the popular interest in the regulation of sport is that it is increasingly acquiring a commercial character with sporting success no longer the only objective. The increase of public interest in sports such as football, motor sport and most recently cricket has fuelled the development of these sports into commercially lucrative activities. Sport has now become an important economic activity which involves large sums of money, acquired primarily from the sale of television rights, and the commercial exploitation of sporting brands and associated personalities Regulation of sports is relatively modern concept. This method promotes a sport globally, in a very successful way. It also promotes the universality of each sport, by ensuring that the same game play rules are being practiced worldwide, using a standardized/homogenous international game play rule system (sanctioned by the respective international sports governing bodies) that is applied uniformly on all member associations and recognized leagues. This includes FIFA, FIBA etc. Some challenging situations have had to be dealt with when there is an overlap of the regulation of the sport with other forms of regulation, e.g. safety. The broadcasting of sports events is also highly regulated, with contracts limiting who can show footage. Entry 33 in the Seventh Schedule of our Constitution has provided a provision for the State as well as Centre to make and enact laws on regulation, registration and recognition of Associations involved in Sports. In India, the provincial Sports Bodies work under non profit making organisations either under the Societies Registration Act or the Company law jurisdiction, Rule and Regulation like statutory orders and act only as secondary legislations supplementing Laws. Legislations and regulations in sport over the past 30 years the sport industry has been increasingly affected by legislations and regulations to protect and ensure the safety of people involved in sport. These regulations apply to people in sport places and sports grounds. The regulations are not only in place to protect sportsmen but to also ensure

the safety and equality of staff, spectators or anyone else involved in sports places. Also the perceived public interest in controlling sport is on the rise, whether it be controlling drugs abuse, fans travelling abroad or the fair commercial exploitation of sporting rights. The central legal issue is what sporting or sport related interest amounts to an economic activity which requires formal regulation? In turn this raises questions of whether certain kinds of activity can be sheltered from the application of the free movement and competition rules or, if caught, whether special exemptions and justifications should apply. In India, the budding "Sports Law" is newly-fangled. The aim of Sports Law should be to provide educational opportunities and disseminate data and information regarding specific areas of sports law; and create a forum for lawyers representing athletes, teams, leagues, conferences, civic recreational programs, educational institutions and other organizations involved in professional, collegiate, Olympic, physical education and amateur sports. The Government must encourage discussions of legal problems affecting sports and promote the exchange of a variety of perspectives and positions of sports law. Establishing rules of ethics for sports persons and practicing professional of law involved in sports law will support the sports industry. Additionally, sports law should endeavour to produce high quality research in the field of sport and the law; provide up to date information on current sports law issues including a resource of sports law material; provide consultancy to sportsmen and sports bodies concerning sports law issues; promote undergraduate and postgraduate study, research and continuing education in sports law; promote ethical solutions to legal issues in sport and notions of "Fair-Play"; and positively address all issues of discrimination in sport. The emergent interaction between sports and law has shaped a new need for a greater understanding of how the law relates to the sporting world. India needs expert sports law consultants to meet an amalgam of diverse legal disciplines such as sports law and policy, contract, tort, taxation, labour, competition, TV rights, match fixing and related criminal laws. Also legal practitioners and sports persons must come together to understand, advance, promote and ethically practice sports law in India. A proper regulation of sports is necessary because like any other human activity, sports betting is open to corruption and improper influence from unscrupulous sports persons, bookmakers and others. Sports betting in the last ten years or so has developed and changed quite fundamentally with the advent of modern technology not least the omnipresence of the Internet and the rise of on-line sports betting even though Online gambling is a banned offence in the state of Maharashtra under the "Bombay Wager Act". The central governments move to bring back the 1975 regulation is seen as part of a cleanup drive of the countrys sporting bodies that have long been riddled with controversies, and allegations of mismanagement. The new government regulation limiting the tenure of the sports administrators would lead to transparency and professionalism. Sports minister M S Gill modified a 1975 regulation under which National Sports Federation presidents cannot occupy office for more than 12 years, with or without break, while a secretary or a treasurer can serve two terms of four years each but will have to take a four-year break before seeking re-election. Even though the NSF chiefs criticised the move it is expected that the regulation would go a long way to streamline Indian sports.

With respect to sports dispute resolution, if there is mandatory sports arbitration in every country, it will help to reduce the need for courts to settle sporting dispute. The sports sector in the international front has certain regulations. But the question is whether the current regulation of international sports system is capable of ensuring that international sports bodies are legally accountable to those affected by the decisions especially athletes. The globalization of sports have shifted the legal regulation of the international sports system increasingly to the private authority of international sports body like the International Olympic Committee , World Anti Doping Agency, and International Federation (IFs) Associations. A significant effect of this shift has been the erosion of the ability of the domestic legal system to intervene, particularly where the rules of international sports bodies conflict with domestic norms and values. Also the growth of technology, particularly audio visual advancement, has both assisted and hindered the commercial exploitation of sport. It is also necessary to address the special problems posed by new technology, including public accessibility, creating the environment for a competitive market in the sale of sports rights and the ability of individual sportsmen and women to control their own image rights. The issue of ownership of sporting and related rights and exploitation of such rights and how it affects public interest also needs to be given attention. In an increasingly litigious and rights oriented society, sportsmen and women, as well as their agents, promoters, sponsors are frequently challenging disciplinary measures taken against them. One reason which can be identified for this is the increasingly short term nature of many sporting careers and the rewards which are available. The outcome of such proceedings may have far-reaching consequences; not only for the individuals concerned, but also for any teams they perform for, investors and the international reputation of their nation state. Also many critics feel that it is better not to regulate as over regulation may turn out to be a bane and not a boon. For example, people feel it would be much easier to eliminate the anti-doping rules than to eliminate doping. The current policy against doping has proved expensive and difficult to police and make it impossible in the near future. Because doping is illegal, the pressure is to make performance enhancers undetectable, rather than safe. Performance enhancers are produced or bought on the black market and administered in a clandestine, uncontrolled way with no monitoring of the athlete's health. Allowing the use of performance enhancers would make sport safer as there would be less pressure on athletes to take unsafe enhancers and a pressure to develop new safe performance enhancers and to make existing enhancers more effective at safe dosages. The removal of doping controls would have major benefits: less cheating, increased solidarity and respect between athletes, more focus on sport and not on rules. Also athletes are in a position to make a decision about what behaviour is in their best interest, to weigh the risks and benefits according to their own values. And a paternalistic rule that attempts to prevent the athlete from harming himself runs counter to the important values of independence and personal choice. Moreover, it is likely that the feared harm is neither life-threatening nor irreversible. Presumably, under this health rationale, if performance is enhanced by substances that cause neither short-term nor long-term harm to the athlete, these substances should not be banned.

This time is important for the future development of sports law. Sport is becoming increasingly commercialised, but its regulation is fragmentary and it is difficult to delineate issues of pure sport and issues of business. It is necessary to examine relationship between sport, business and policy and analyze how law regulates sport and sports business and demonstrate the need to redefine the frontier between 'Sporting' rules and regulations and legal regulation. It is suggested that sporting bodies and associations have a significant role to play in shaping the contours of this frontier. The regulation of sport increasingly fills not only the back page, but often the headlines, in newspapers, as the line between amateur sporting activity and professional sporting activity becomes increasingly blurred. The increase of public interest in sports such as football, motor sport and most recently cricket has fuelled the development of these sports into commercially lucrative activities. Yet sport remains an important aspect of national and international cultural identity, as well as a leisure activity. It is necessary to realise that this time is critical.