5 October 09

On 23^rd September 2009 DMU hosted a drinks reception on its Leicester campus to toast its recent partnership with BASL.

DMU began the role of academic partner to BASL in July, and the evening reception was the first in a proposed series of events.

The evening proved to be a great success, being widely attended by a diverse cross section of students, academics, practitioners and administrators. Whilst most were locally based, DMU was particularly delighted to welcome attendees from London and other Regions.

For those who were unable to attend, below is the opening speech given by Andy Gray, the Head of the Sports Law Unit at DMU’s Law School:

“Whilst clearly the British economy is suffering at the present time not all is doom and gloom. Without wishing to tempt fate I think it is fair to say that the sports industry has shown a marked degree of resilience even, dare I say, growth. In relation to the Olympic sports, such as swimming, this may be in part a “feel good” factor following the excellent performances of Team GB in the Beijing Olympics coupled with looking forward to the opportunities that present themselves in London 2012. Both public and private funding remains strong with every sign of still more investment.

And to demonstrate this, the Midlands region is at the forefront of some very exciting developments

In the team sports we see the ambitious but very credible aspirations of three of our local football teams, Nottingham Forest, Derby County and our own Leicester City, to be a central part of the FA’s World Cup bids for 2018 or 2022.  In rugby union across the city we have Leicester Tigers’ fantastic new stand, part of a stadium reconstruction that will be the envy of world club rugby and will provide a facility which will be at the forefront of the RFU’s Rugby World Cup bid.

We will also see in the spring of next year a dedicated “House of Sport” (known as Sport Park) based in the East Midlands, on the Loughborough University Campus, where it is anticipated that there will be a national or regional presence for many Governing Bodies of Sport.  We at the DMU Sports Law Unit have very close links with Loughborough University’s Institute of Sports Policy with DMU staff contributing to teaching on Loughborough programmes and vice versa. Indeed links between Loughborough University and the Faculty of Business & Law generally are very strong.

As an institution DMU are firm believers in partnership working.

So a little about sports law and DMU. Our Sports Law Unit was established some eighteen months ago and I believe we are the only UK University providing the full range of Sports Law Courses

-          An Undergraduate Module.

-          A dedicated Master of Laws (LLM) in Sports Law and Practice recruiting regularly 20 – 30 students per annum and very much a market leader.

-          A Module on the Legal Practice Course for Trainee Solicitors.

-          We can also provide a full range of sports related vocational training for newly qualified or experienced sports law practitioners.

So to the British Association of Sport and the Law (BASL). Founded in 1992, BASL is the pre-eminent professional association for all involved in Sport and Law, whether from a practice, business or academic perspective. We are delighted to have formed a partnership with BASL acting as Host University and Academic Partner. I am delighted that so many of our friends from the legal, sports administration and sport industry communities were able to join us at a reception held in the Queens Building on Wednesday 23 September to celebrate this important appointment and to help us in mapping out the future for the development of BASL within the Midlands region and beyond.

DMU will provide academic input and leadership for the BASL website recently re-launched and for those with an interest in this area I would commend a visit (www.britishsportslaw.org).

But we want to go much further than this: Amongst the key challenges we have set ourselves is to fully engage with the local sport industry, sports governing bodies and sports legal communities provide opportunities for professional development (through training courses and conferences) and networking opportunities through events like our inaugural reception.

The next event we will host will be our Sports Law Mini Conference to be held on  Friday 6 November 2009, the confirmed speakers include the Chief Executive of British Swimming and the Football Associations Director of Governance and Regulation together with specialist practitioners involving sports commercial work.

The Key Note Address:  “Challenges Facing Sporting Governing Bodies” will be made by

David Sparkes, Chief Executive, British Swimming/ASA. Drawing on his experience of some fifteen years at the helm of a leading National Sports Governing Body David will share some of swimming’s experiences and lessons learned in areas such as Child Protection in Sport (including a sports eye view of the new ISA scheme), Challenges of Team Selection and Disabled Athlete Classification and other aspects of evolving sports governance.

Darren Bailey, FA Director of Football Governance and Regulation will provide an insight into National and Global trends in sports governance.

We very much hope and believe that the professional and sports industry communities will share our enthusiasm and vision for a thriving sport and the law community in the Midlands.”

Attached are some photographs of the evening!