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NLJ this week: Tackling abuse in football, rugby and other sport

10 March 2022
Issue: 7970 / Categories: Legal News , Sports law , Personal injury
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There has been a rise in disclosures of historic abuse in sport. Writing in this week’s NLJ, David Mayor and Alastair Gillespie, look into what can be done about this shocking issue

They cover ongoing and recent cases in rugby, football and other sports, and look at the potential for litigation. The courts are generally sympathetic to the reasons for delaying litigation, such as shame and stigma. They write that there is ‘a societal shift underpinning the way in which claimant lawyers are testing the present legal boundaries, even though the occurrence of index events is often far from current’.

Mayor, partner at Forbes Solicitors and member of FOIL’s Sports SFT, and Gillespie, partner at Horwich Farrelly and member of FOIL’s Abuse SFT, write: ‘So great has been the increase in disclosures of non-recent abuse in sport that it seems that hardly a day goes by without a dark, depressing headline, drawing the reader to yet another traumatic tale of verbal and physical assault, inappropriate sexual activity or other degrading behaviour inflicted on young people who endured abuse and humiliation because they felt they had to in order to continue pursuing their dreams.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
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After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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