MLC710 Sport and the Law

Overview of this assessment

This is a group assessment (2 students) – students may choose to do this assessment in groups of 3 but students who wish to do the assignment independently need to inform the unit chair.

Your task is to critically analyse/reflect on and evaluate the legal and ethical issues that were discussed in Sport and the Law from Topics 3 to 6 (you must select what is relevant from these topics as not all topics or aspects of these topics are relevant for this assessment). There are ongoing themes that present throughout the course of the unit, for example the reluctance of the courts to intervene in the governance of sport, and the commercialisation and commodification of sport.  These ongoing themes should also be considered for this assessment, where relevant.  This assessment is a research task that will require you to do independent and group research.  The materials you should refer to when preparing your answer include the textbook, books, journal articles, and other academic resources and materials that will support your analysis/reflection and evaluation.

This is not a ‘legal’ analysis type task, as there is no hypothetical problem to analyse, however you may choose to discuss cases and/or statute to support any assertions in your response.

The maximum word count for this assessment task is 2000 words in total (including citations and footnotes – it does not include the reference list). You may be penalised if you are beyond the maximum word count.

Please ensure that you read all of the instructions contained in this document.

Research Question

“At this point, it suffices to express the wish that the threshold to the law's role in sport might adhere to Braithwaite's test of 'responsive regulation':

Governments should be responsive to the conduct of those they seek to regulate in deciding whether a more or less interventionist response is needed. In particular, law enforcers should be more responsive to how effectively citizens or corporations are regulating themselves before deciding whether to escalate interventions.

It might not always be possible to reconcile the law's 'responsiveness' with the 'internal' regulatory structures of sport nor, of course, might it be proper to deny an aggrieved party 'external' access to the ordinary courts, nevertheless (and as the next chapter illustrates) in the event that an ostensibly sporting matter does become the subject of formal litigation, it is hoped that in exercising its role, the judiciary might display a light and restrained touch. After all, sport is principally about playing, not litigating.”  Jack Anderson.

Critically analyse/reflect on and evaluate this quotation in the context of the recent spate of threatened legal claims by athletes in professional sports in Australia (and internationally) for progressive and fatal brain injury (chronic traumatic encephalopathy - CTE) and the potential legal implications for the various stakeholders involved in sport in Australia (specifically) and internationally (generally).

Word count: Maximum 2000 words

(30 marks)

Consider the following (in no particular order):

1. From which reading is the quotation and to what theoretical question on semantics and ongoing theme in Sport and the Law does this quote relate in the context of the reading?
2. How might the general law treat this type of injury (CTE) to professional athletes in Australia? Is there a duty of care owed by the stakeholders?  Are there any defences?  What has the case law in Australia (and overseas) revealed about liability of stakeholders in relation to CTE? 
3. What are the ethical issues in relation to this type of injury? How have sporting bodies responded to and regulated for the increased awareness around the potential dangers of concussion and head trauma? 
4. Who should ultimately be responsible for this type of injury? Should sports that have the potential to give rise to CTE even be allowed?   

Guidelines for Completing Assessment 2

The objective of this task is for students to demonstrate a critical approach to legal and ethical issues that arise in Sport and the Law (ULO 1 and 4).  In addition, this task requires students to demonstrate digital literacy skills (ULO 3), by searching for, and identifying quality resources to support an argument in the context of the critical exercise. This assessment does not require legal argumentation per se, however it will allow students to more deeply reflect on the operation of law in sport.   It is important that your essay focuses on analysing what is asserted in the quotation, in the context of the laws (e.g. civil liability from cases and statute) that might potentially affect (or have affected) CTE claims in Australia and internationally. Marks will be awarded for your ability to identify relevant legal and ethical issues, critically research, read, and formulate a coherent and reflective response to the question.

Referencing

Referencing standards for this assessment will be in accordance with the Harvard referencing style (https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/referencing/harvard).  JD students who have become accustomed to AGLC referencing may adopt this standard.

Marking Criteria

Assessment 2 is worth 30% of your final grade for this unit.  The assessment will be marked in accordance with the following broad criteria:

• Identification of the theoretical question on semantics and ongoing theme from the quotation.
• Identification of relevant laws that relate to the potential liability of stakeholders to athletes who suffer, have suffered or may suffer CTE in Australia (specifically) and internationally (generally).
• Analysis/reflection and evaluation of the quotation’s theme in the context of the above (including consideration of sub-questions).
•  
• Organisation – communication and style.
• Digital literacy – research and referencing skills.

You will receive an individual mark for these criteria. These criteria will be defined by way of a rubric (attached to this document for your reference).

Submission Instructions, Due Date, and Extension / Late Submission Policy

• All students must go to the Tools Tab in the CloudDeakin unit site and enter a group (irrespective of whether you have formed a group or you are submitting individually). If you do not enter your name into a Group you will not be able to submit.  Those submitting as a group need to submit only one version of the assignment.
• Your assessment should be submitted in Microsoft Word (or rich text) format - .doc, .docx or .rtf. Please do not submit your assessment in PDF format, Apple Pages format, or in any other format. It is your responsibility to ensure that the file you submit is readable. Files that are not readable will be treated as non-submissions. Additionally, please take care to ensure that you have submitted the right version of the file (i.e., your final version, and not a draft version) and that you have submitted the assessment for this unit (and have not mistakenly submitted an assessment that was written for another unit). You are not able to ‘take back’ your submission and upload a fresh (correct) version of your assessment, however this should not be a concern, as only your most recent submission will be marked, provided it is submitted before the due date and time. Any further submissions beyond the due date and time will attract a late penalty. Please observe the following format:
• You do not need to provide a cover sheet.
• Use a font no smaller than 11 point and line spacing of 1.5.
• Use Calibri font.
• Use margin 2.54 cm on all sides.
• You must provide a word count at the beginning of your assessment. All pages of the assessment must be numbered and your student ID number/s included in the header or footer.
• The due date and time for this assessment is 8 PM (AEST Melbourne time) on Friday 6th May 2022. Your assessment must be submitted via CloudDeakin. If (and only if) there is a CloudDeakin system failure, you may submit your assessment via email to the Unit Chair (Jay Gul) at [email protected] as evidence of timely submission, and your assessment must then be submitted to CloudDeakin once it becomes available (it is a university requirement that all assessments are posted to CloudDeakin). You should not submit a hard copy of your assessment. Please note that missing the assessment due time is not a reason to submit via email – please read the extension/late submission policy (below) very carefully.
• To obtain an extension, you must do so via the extension link under the Assessments tab in the unit site. Extensions will only be granted for serious and exceptional circumstances beyond your control. Travel, computer failure and work commitments are not grounds for extensions. If you apply for an extension, you must include supporting documentation. Extensions may not be granted without supporting documentation or other evidence of the relevant circumstances.

Requests for extensions must ordinarily be made at least 3 working days before the assessment due date. Requests should only be made after this time where there are exceptional reasons for doing so. Extension requests cannot be made after the due date, unless there are highly exceptional reasons that prevent you from applying for an extension at the regular time.

If an extension is granted, the period of the extension will be commensurate to the circumstances which have affected the completion of your assessment. For example, if you were affected by a medical condition for three days, you would expect that the extension granted would be three days. This means that if you submit an extension request, we do not expect you to provide information to us that is sensitive and thus inappropriate to be disclosed, but we do expect you to be able to provide us with an adequate explanation of the circumstances that have led to your extension request. If you do not explain those circumstances, it is not possible to grant an extension, as it is not possible to make a judgement of the extent to which the completion of your assessment has been affected. The maximum extension period that can be granted is two weeks.

• Late submissions for which no extension has been granted will attract a late penalty. Late submissions will be dealt with in accordance with cl 46 of the University Assessment (Higher Education Courses) Procedure. Clause 46 provides:

Penalties for late submission of assessment tasks

(46) A due date and time will be set for the submission of each summative assessment task. A marking penalty will be applied where the assessment task is submitted after the due date without an approved extension as follows:

1. 5% will be deducted from available marks for each day up to five days. 

2. Where work is submitted more than five days after the due date, the task will not be marked and the student will receive 0% for the task. 


'Day' means working day for paper submissions and calendar day for electronic submissions.

Feedback

Your marked assessment will be returned to you within 15 working days of submission, unless otherwise advised – with feedback. Please take the opportunity to consider the feedback you have received and to think about how you might use that feedback to improve on future assessments (or, hopefully, to keep doing the things that you have been doing well).

Your marked assessment may contain a range of positive and negative feedback. The purpose of this feedback is to help you learn from your submission. Sometimes, feedback will be given for this educational purpose even though it is not related to a matter taken into account in marking on this occasion. It is not necessarily the case that every item of positive feedback is something that you ‘gained marks’ for, or that every item of negative feedback is something that you ‘lost marks’ for. Sometimes, we are merely helping you learn for the future.

Plagiarism and Collusion

By clicking the ‘submit’ button in the assessment submission area, you are declaring that the attached work is entirely your own, except where otherwise acknowledged, and you are also declaring that it has not been submitted for assessment in any other unit or course.

Plagiarism and collusion are taken very seriously in the Faculty of Business and Law, and in this unit. Instances of plagiarism and collusion will be reported to the Faculty Academic Progress Committee. You are advised to familiarise yourselves with the plagiarism and collusion information contained in your Unit Guide and contained on CloudDeakin. In essence, plagiarism occurs if you pass off as your own work (or copy without acknowledgement) the work of another person, while collusion occurs if you obtain the agreement of another person for a fraudulent purpose, with the intent of obtaining an advantage in submitting an assessment or in other work.