Safety in Sport Legal Research Team

This legal research team will investigate the effectiveness of the current regulation of unsanctioned sport-related violence (SRV) in Australia. The research team brings together a new partnership of legal scholars with a common interest in private and public law and the regulation of sport. This project addresses the recent finding of Greenhow & Raj (2019) calling for a review of the current regulatory system in Australian sport. The specific objective of this project is to investigate whether the current regulatory framework of regulating unsanctioned sport-related violence (SRV) aligns with government and community expectations towards SRV, particularly the renewed focus on deterring socially undesirable ‘one punch’ violent conduct in many Australian jurisdictions. Specifically, we are interested in measuring contemporary attitudes around the current regulatory approach (primarily an autonomous and private self-regulatory approach), and ascertaining whether regulating unsanctioned SRV should remain a matter for private regulation. In the United Kingdom, concerns about the wider societal issues associated with SRV triggered the UK government to reconfigure the autonomous and private self-regulatory system in addressing SRV, moving towards a co-regulatory model. We ask whether the same approach could occur in Australia. The purpose of this LRT project is to provide a more comprehensive and contemporary understanding of SRV regulation in Australia. The primary focus is on unsanctioned SRV on the field of play. However, opportunities exist to later expand the line of inquiry to investigate the regulation of other forms of violence in sport, including off- field spectator violence, and occupational health and safety.