Weekly Progress Report

Week 2
Research work:
Sports Law: Meaning & Need:

The term Sports law can be said to be a misnomer. There is no specific sports
law as such, and it would be more meaningful to adopt the rubric of the sports
and the law for describing the various laws that govern different aspects of
sports. Thus, it can be stated that the term Sports law can mean to be one of
those fields of laws which constitute applied law as opposed to pure or
theoretical law.
Sports law basically deals with issues that arise during the preparation for or
execution of sports event. Sports law also deals with issues connected to
relationship between and activities of individual and institutions for sports. It
transgresses into the already established body of labour law, contract laws,
competition laws, and the law of torts. Related concerns pertaining to
defamation and privacy rights also form an integral aspect of spots law.
However, in the present times, law relating to sports is now established and is
considered a separate and important entity that coincides with the popularity of
sports and players participation, and enhanced by increased media scrutiny.
Sports Law can be roughly divided into the areas of amateur, professional, and
international sports. The distinction between a professional and amateur athlete
is somewhat tenuous. So-called "amateur" student/athletes at universities often
receive scholarships and other forms of compensation. Also, keep in mind that
even though an athlete may be defined as an amateur by one organization, he or
she may not be an amateur according to another. Of course, this leads to even
more confusion. A simplistic, yet useful definition is that amateur athletes
participate in sports as an avocation while professional athletes are involved in
sports as a vocation.

Amateur Sports law

Amateur sports are generally not regulated by the state or any other institution
and generally played on streets, parks or backyard example street football, gali
cricket etc. Players or person participating in these sports are not considered as
professional athletes or players and they are also not paid for participating in it.
In European countries, there is culture of playing sports by local people amongst
their friends on Sunday for recreation and enjoyment. Events like Sunday league
in England are considered as amateur sports and people participating in it are
not paid. These kinds of sports are generally regulated by people playing
themselves only. Amateur sports events are generally held at schools or
university level.

Professional Sports Law

In professional sports, person participating in these sports are well trained and
paid for playing sports by their owners. Perhaps the most important relationship
in the area of professional sports is that between the individual player and the
team owner. This contractual relationship is governed by basic contract
principles. Most sports leagues now have adopted Standard Player's Contract
which serves as a model employment contract between players and owners. The
model contract can be modified to accommodate the special needs and talents
of individual players. With the increase in salaries in professional sports, most
players are now represented by agents.

International Sports Law

An international sports event involves athletes representing different countries.

In these event athletes feel proud in representing their country at international
level. All major international sports competition like Olympics and the various
World Cups tournaments regulate the conduct of players, teams, and the
spectators through formulated rules and regulations.