‘Legitimate Sport’ or Criminal Assault? What are the Roles of the Rules and the Rule-Makers in Determining Criminal Liability for Violence on the Sports Field?
| Author | Ben Livings |
| Published date | 01 December 2006 |
| Date | 01 December 2006 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1350/jcla.2006.70.6.495 |
| Subject Matter | Comment |
COMMENT
‘Legitimate Sport’ or Criminal Assault?
What Are the Roles of the Rules and the Rule-
makers in Determining Criminal Liability
for Violence on the Sports Field?
Ben Livings*
On 23 August 2006, during a Premier League football match at the City
of Manchester Stadium, and as the two players chased the ball going out
of play, Manchester City player Ben Thatcher hit opponent Pedro
Mendes in the face with his elbow; Mendes was hospitalised as a result
of the challenge, which had rendered him unconscious. Coming just six
weeks after the infamous headbutt by Zinedine Zidane during the 2006
World Cup final between France and Italy, the incident has reopened the
debate as to when sportspeople should face prosecution for violent
behaviour during the course of a sporting contest. At the time of writing,
the Greater Manchester Police have announced that they are investigat-
ing the matter,1but there has been no indication as to whether a
prosecution will be brought.2
The various criminal assaults that may be committed during a sport-
ing contest are provided for in the common law, and under the provi-
sions of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.3It is generally
accepted by the courts that the requirements of these are relatively easy
to establish at various points throughout many sporting contests, and
would appear to be satisfied by Thatcher’s challenge.4It is the availability
* Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Sunderland; e-mail:
ben.livings@sunderland.ac.uk.
1 M. Ogden and C. Davies, ‘Thatcher Faces Police Action Over Mendes Foul’, Daily
Telegraph (London, 25 August 2006) S1.
Thatcher has been fined by the English Football Association, and banned for
eight games. He has also been fined, and banned for games, by his club Manchester
City.
2 Thatcher was banned for six games (two of these being suspended) by his club
Manchester City (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/
5300184.stm, accessed 15 September 2006). He was also banned for eight games,
with a further 15-game suspended ban, by the English Football Association
(C. Davies, ‘Thatcher Handed Eight-match Ban’, Daily Telegraph (London,
13 September 2006) 7).
3 This forms a rough hierarchy of offences, with common law batteries and assaults
at the lower end of the scale, moving up through ss 47, 20 and 18 of the OAPA
1861, in order of seriousness.
4 In R vBarnes [2005] 2 All ER 113 at 118, Lord Woolf CJ stated:
In a sport like football, anyone going to tackle another player in possession of
the ball can be expected to have the necessary malicious intent according to this
approach, and in the great majority of criminal cases, the existence of a
malicious intent is not likely to be in issue.
495
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