Handbook

Sport is a central part of modern Australian society and culture. Not surprisingly, as professionalism has become the norm, those involved with sport, be they players, managers, administrators and/or supporters, are increasingly looking to the law to protect their rights and/or resolve their problems. How and why has this happened? The course touches on a number of different areas of law such as administrative law, business associations, contracts, criminal law, discrimination, industrial relations, taxation, trade practices and torts. The aim is to draw upon specific issues from these various branches of the law and to place them in an historical and modern day context so as to give participants an understanding of the developing role the law is making in the world of sport as well as the policy and ethical issues facing those involved.

Main Topics

• What is sport and when should the law intervene?
• The Australian legal system and the development of a "Law of Sport"
• Clubs, crowds, ideology, gender and race
• Who owns the game?
• The business: general protection issues
• The individuals: restraint of trade; before the mercy of the court - preparing the plea
• Liability and protection issues: defamation, discrimination and drugs
• The international arena: national identity; the future
• Theory in action