Master of the Livery’s Annual Lecture, 2004
The Master's Lecture was delivered by Sir Philip Otton, a retired Lord Justice of Appeal, to a mixed audience of members of the Company and students of King's College, London. With the Olympics just months away, he spoke on the highly topical subject of "Sport - Private Grief or Public Prurience".
The emphasis of Sir Philip's talk was on disciplinary proceedings. He observed that the natural and institutional rules of sport provided for the disposal of such cases in private, but the impact of human rights legislation had called the wisdom of this into question. Furthermore, the satisfactory resolution of disciplinary matters was made more complex by the contractual arrangements surrounding players. He highlighted the lot of a professional footballer, who was employed by his club but subject to contractual terms imposed by the game's governing bodies both nationally and (if a player should represent his country) internationally. He expressed concern about the difficulty of dealing fairly with disciplinary cases behind closed doors, having regard to the differing interests of the player, club and governing bodies. He suggested that tribunals should have a discretion to allow public hearings, particularly when the accused player so wished. He proposed that the rules governing procedural matter s should allow for a greater variety of flexibility, having regard to the seriousness of the case.
Sir Philip drew attention to the differing speeds at which differing sports dealt with disciplinary matters, suggesting that time should not be lost in setting up a disciplinary body for each sport to perform its tasks expeditiously.
In Sir Philip's view, the state of disciplinary procedures in sport was far from satisfactory and much could be learnt from the Court of Arbitration in Sport (" CAS ") which was set up in 1983. He commended the "ad hoc" decisions of the CAS which was willing to set up a panel of arbitrators who were generally present at the venue of major international sporting events to provide speedy site resolution of disputes. He also drew attention to its mediation service.
Sir Philip's talk was both entertaining and thought provoking. It was followed by supper in the Great Hall at King's College. Sir Philip's act will be a hard one for next year's speaker to follow.
John Rushton