The Sports Lawyer

The sporting industry needs to be at the forefront of tackling racism, especially given the media and public attention it attracts. It can be said that sport exacerbates existing racial tensions, both for a minority of fans who see sporting events as an acceptable outlet to display such attitudes and for the athletes or coaches, who in the heat of moment use racial slurs to target an opponent. Because these actions are publicly punished and condemned, and because many initiatives and organisations have already been created to address the problem, it could be easy to suggest the sporting industry is actively tackling the issue to the best of their ability. However, the problem evidentially still exists, and although this is nowhere near an extensive list of things that can be done, this article is going to highlight some areas the sporting industry could look at to help tackle racism. The Rooney Rule First established by the NFL in 2003, this rule ensures that a club must

What is Financial Fair Play? The desired aim of Financial Fair Play (FFP) is to prevent clubs from spending more money than they earn to protect them from getting into financial difficulties and to ensure the sustainability of European club football. For those clubs that qualify for European club competitions, FFP is governed by EUFA. However, individual football authorities also have their own FFP rules, so the Premier League has its own rules, as does the Championship and so on. The general premise is to put a limit on the maximum losses a club can make over a certain period: UEFA say losses can be a total £30 million over 3 years The PL say losses can be a total of £105 million over 3 years The Championship say losses can be a total of £39 million over 3 years As a result of FFP, UEFA reported that combined club operating profits had risen to €600 million in 2017, compared with combined losses of €1.7 billion in 2011 before FFP was introduced. Similarly, before F