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NLJ this week: Pitch invaders who interrupt play should beware of the law

07 October 2022
Issue: 7997 / Categories: Legal News , Public , Sports law , Health & safety
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In this week’s NLJ, Neil Parpworth, of Leicester De Montfort Law School, looks at trespass on the field of play. It’s just not cricket! 

Parpworth looks at a case of aggravated trespass, where a YouTuber invaded the pitch dressed in whites during a test match at The Oval, ran up to the crease and released the ball. He also collided with a player. This caused confusion both to players and umpires.

While the YouTuber found this entertaining, the judge disagreed and found him guilty of aggravated trespass, under s 68(1) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.

Parpworth writes that case law on s 68 suggests that it is an offence tending to be committed in the context of protests and demonstrations. However, the case of The Oval YouTuber, like that of the Naked Rambler before him, where ‘the defendant is committed to a course of action which inevitably has an impact on others’ illustrates the scope of the offence.

Read Neil's article in full here.

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