Blog Details

Author - Advocate Karthik Raghavan and Associate Debasmita Patra

The whole concept of Sports Law is at a nascent stage in India. It is nothing but an amalgamation of Labour Law, Contract Law, Competition Law, Intellectual Property Rights Law, Anti-Trust Law and various other fields. From a sporting context, it is applicable to public order, drugs, safety, disciplinary measures, conduct & various other issues relating to restraint of trade, anti-competitive behaviour, match fixing, and defamation & privacy rights. From a legal standpoint, sports figures in the Seventh Schedule, List II (Entry 33) i.e. State List of the Constitution of India. India has and continues to host numerous sporting events at the national & international level. In fact, the last major international sporting event to be hosted here was the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup.
However, the country is in dire need of a legislation that not only deals with streamlining sports authorities but also carrying out disciplinary action against erring players, coaches, trainers, sports agents etc. Without these stringent body of laws for regulating the conduct of the players and regulatory authorities, sports is not getting the recognition it deserves. Now that more events and sporting activities are being established, the need for promoting sports at the highest level is essential. 

Unfortunately, there is no state or national legislation dealing with regulation of sports in India. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, a branch of the Government of India, administers the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports. Initially, it was set up as the Department of Sports during the Asian Games held in New Delhi. Thereafter, it was changed to the Department of Youth Affairs & Sports during celebration of the International Youth Year in 1985. Promotion of sports is usually carried out by autonomous bodies like various National Sports Federations (NSFs for the sake of brevity). The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs oversees the performance of such NSFs. Sports law in India is primarily governed and regulated by:

• National Sports Policy, 1984 (revised in 2001)
• Sports Law and Welfare Association of India
• Sports Authority of India
• The Sports Broadcasting Law in India.

The National Sports Policy of India was implemented to raise the standard of sports for the reason being that it was degrading due to corruption, betting and various other fraudulent activities. The objectives of this policy are basically three fold:

• Firstly, it defines the areas responsibility of various agencies involved in the promotion and development of sports
• Secondly, to identify NSFs eligible for coverage under these guidelines, set priorities, and to detail the procedures to be followed by the Federations, to avail of Government sponsorship and assistance. 
• Thirdly, to state the conditions for eligibility which the Government will insist upon while releasing grants to Sports Federations.

The Sports Law and Welfare Association of India was established with the primary purpose of understanding, advancement, and ethical practice of sports law in India for promotion of sports. Further, the Association provides consultancy on various matters that include regulation of sports governing bodies, general sport and law issues intellectual property issues etc. Further, The Sports Authority of India was instituted for the basic purpose of coordinating various sports activities in India. It has extended its operations to promote broadbase sports. The other thrust areas of this organisation include provision of strengthening of inputs for excellence and various supportive programmes, such as Academic Programmes, Coaching and Physical Education Awareness Programmes and Scholarship Schemes as incentives to sportspersons. In so far as sports broadcasting is concerned, the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act, 2007 was enforced with an objective to provide access to the largest number of listeners and viewers, on a free to air basis, of sporting events of national importance through mandatory sharing of sports broadcasting signals with Prasar Bharati and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

From an international perspective, it is important to note that the United Nations has acknowledged that sport as a universal language can be a powerful tool to promote peace and development objectives. In sports law arbitration, a form of alternate dispute resolution is a legal technique applied for out of court settlement. It is governed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 which is based on the UNCITRAL Model Law. Other forms of dispute resolution include mediation, conciliation and negotiation. At the international level, disputes relating to sports are referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS for the sake of brevity). A dispute may be referred to the CAS if there is an arbitration agreement between the parties that specifies recourse to the CAS. The dispute may be of 2 types:

• Commercial – It involve disputes relating to execution of contracts like sponsorship, sale of television rights, staging of sports events, player transfers etc.
• Disciplinary – These basically involve doping related cases. In addition to this, the CAS is called upon to rule on various disciplinary cases like violence on the field of play, referee abuse etc.

The CAS is governed by its own Statutes and Rules of Procedure namely the Statutes of the Bodies Working for the Settlement of Sports Related Disputes, Code of Sports Related Arbitration and Mediation Rules. In addition to arbitration, the CAS also provides mediation for a sports related dispute. However, unlike arbitration, the process is not binding.

Therefore, it is important to note that sports law in India has progressed only through leaps and bounds. It has come to a stage wherein the Government has no other option but to pass a legislation that deals with sports law in India. India’s performance at international events like the Olympics has been appalling to say the least, owing to corruption and crumbling infrastructure. In order to meet the demands at the national and international level, it is important that a uniform code for sports be enforced. The judiciary should also play an active role in the enforcement of sports law legislation. We must protect the interests of our sportspersons, coaches, trainers, psychologists as they play a huge part in popularising sports in this country. India is in dire need of national legislation for promotion, development and uniform regulation for sports. Hence, the Government should take adequate steps towards reaching this objective and set up a separate dispute resolution mechanism that exclusively deals with sport related disputes.