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Press Release

Decriminalising Sport

5 January 2005

Welcoming the judgement, criminal lawyer Andrew Keogh from Tuckers Solicitors stated that:

“The court has recognised the special nature of sports related injury and the fact that injury, even of a serious nature, can occur within the heat of play. The criminal law has a part to play only in exceptional cases, with all of conduct best judged by specialist tribunals with specialist knowledge of the realities of sport play. This judgment will put a sharp stop to the growing practice of disgruntled players using the criminal law to compensate for defeat or humiliation on the pitch.”

In R v Barnes, Court of Appeal, 21 December 2004, the Lord Chief Justice handed down judgment in relation to a defendant convicted of causing a serious leg injury following a tackle during an amateur football match.

The prosecution had argued the tackle to be late, unnecessary, reckless and high up on the legs. The defendant stated that that whilst the tackle may well have been ‘hard’, it was a fair sliding tackle in the course of play, resulting in unintended accidental injury.

A jury was left with the task of deciding whether such conduct was part of ‘legitimate sport’.

Quashing the original conviction the Court of Appeal ruled that:

  • Criminal proceedings should be reserved for those situations where the conduct was sufficiently grave properly to be categorised as criminal. Most sports had their own disciplinary procedures that would cater for improper behaviour on pitch.

  • Physical injury was an inevitable risk of sport, and those participating consented to such injury.

  • Before a prosecution was considered one had to consider all of the circumstances, including the type of sport, level at which is was played, nature of the act, degree of force used, the extent of risk of injury and the state of mind of the person causing the injury.

  • Even conduct outside of the rules of the game may not be criminal. It was to be borne in mind that, in highly competitive sports, conduct outside of the rules might be expected to occur in the heat of the moment, and even if the conduct justified not only being penalised but also a warning or even a sending off, the threshold level for a criminal prosecution might not be reached.

  • An instinctive error, reaction or misjudgement in the heat of a game was not to be equated with criminal activity.

    • Contacts: -

    Media Enquiries:

    Andrew Keogh, 0161 233 4321, keogha@tuckerssolicitors.com 07970 636343

    Legal:

    Andrew Keogh (Manchester), 0161 233 4321
    James Turner (Birmingham), 0121 236 4324
    Richard Egan (London), 020 7388 8333