Will the American League Baseball finals be decided by the actions of a fan?

By Tim Lowles on October 18, 2018 Posted in Baseball, Rules and regulations

The beginning of October saw the start of the postseason in Major League Baseball and we are now at the finals stage in both the National and American League competitions.

In the American League, the LA Dodgers lead the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 in the best of 7 series, whilst last night the Boston Red Sox sealed a 8-6 victory over the Houston Astros, to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

However, last night’s game was not without controversy as a two-run home run was cancelled as a result of the umpires’ finding that an Astro’s fan had interfered with the play.

What happened?

At the bottom of the first innings, and with George Springer on first base, Houston’s designated hitter Jose Altuve, smashed a fly ball to the right-hand side of the field in what looked like it would be a home run.

Red Sox right-fielder, Mookie Betts, launched himself backwards in an attempt to make the catch but in the process closed his glove too early, meaning the ball dropped back into the field of play, with both batsmen making it home safely.

However, following the play, the right-field umpire ruled that Altuve was out as a result of “spectator interference”. Protests ensued from the Astro’s bench before, having taking their time to consider the replays in more detail, the Umpires upheld the original decision with Altuve out and Springer having to return to first base.

A video of the incident can be viewed on the MLB twitter account here.

What are the rules?

Ben Stokes & Alex Hales: Disciplinary Matters in England and Wales Cricket

By Dillon Ravikumar on October 17, 2018 Posted in Cricket, Discipline, Governance, Rules and regulations

Given its escalation all the way to the Bristol Crown Court, even the casual sports fan will have noted the media furore regarding Ben Stokes and the street brawl he engaged in last September.

Although Stokes was found not guilty for the offence of affray, he has not escaped all liability for his actions just yet.

At the same time as Stokes was charged by the Avon and Somerset Police, both Stokes and Alex Hales were charged internally by the England governing body for cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

What were they charged with?

Both players were referred to the independent Cricket Discipline Committee (CDC) and charged with two counts of breaching ECB directive 3.3, which states:

“No participant may conduct themselves in a manner or do any act or omission at any time which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute.”

These types of clauses in governing bodies’ regulations are commonly used as sweeper provisions, to punish participants for actions away from the field of play.

How will the disciplinary process work?

Eleven Sports challenges football ‘Blackout’ by broadcasting La Liga games

By Jack Blakey on October 11, 2018 Posted in Broadcasting, Football, Governance

Eleven Sports, the global sports provider, has contravened UEFA rules, which prohibit live coverage of football in the UK between 14:45 and 17:15 on Saturdays by broadcasting Barcelona’s La Liga fixture against Athletic Bilbao.

This period on a Saturday afternoon is commonly referred to as the football “blackout” as the UK does not broadcast any matches during this period. It is at this time that football fans will instead turn to Jeff Stelling and Co. for their fix of football updates.

Eleven Sports broadcast the La Liga fixture in the UK despite a 15:15 BST kick off. Eleven Sports then streamed Getafe versus Levante the following weekend at the same time. Andrea Radrizzani, its founder, has recently said that the broadcaster will continue to broadcast live La Liga matches during the Saturday blackout window.

Article 48 of the UEFA Statutes grants UEFA and the Member Associations the exclusive rights to broadcast any matches within their jurisdiction. The regulations governing the implementation of Article 48 provide further detail:

Article 3(1) refers to “transmission-free periods” where Member Associations may decide on a two and a half hour period on a Saturday or Sunday during which any transmission of football is prohibited within the territory of the Member Association.
Article 3(3) requires that the chosen hours of a Member Association should correspond to the “main domestic fixture schedule”, which is defined as corresponding to the time when the majority (50% or more) of the weekly football matches in the top or top two domestic leagues are played.

This corresponds to the set of fixtures played at 15:00 on a Saturday in the UK.

More silverware for SPB at Law Society rugby 7s and Netball Tournament

By Tim Lowles on October 4, 2018 Posted in Netball, Rugby

Following last year’s success, Squire Patton Boggs again entered this year’s Law Society rugby 7s and Netball Tournament.

The SPB netball team started the day with a strong win against Watson Farley & Williams. Some consistent shooting (in spite of the downpour of rain during play) led Squires to an 8-4 victory.

The ladies, however, faced a very strong Pinsent Masons side in their second group game and narrowly lost, even though they put in a valiant defence against their shooters. But, after 39 Essex Street failed to turn up (our name must have preceded us!), a win-by-default put the girls through to the play-offs of the plate. The team rallied together and (buoyed by some enthusiastic support from the sidelines) brought home a well-deserved victory against Simmons & Simmons (8-4). This was a satisfying win for the team as Simmons was the only team they lost to in 2017!

The afternoon brought a hard-fought semi-final against Irwin Mitchell. Despite a wholehearted effort and a comeback in the second half, the ladies missed out on a place in the final, leaving the rugby 7s team to fight for silverware later in the afternoon.

The Olympic Games: an architect of peace for the Korean Peninsula?

By Jack Blakey on September 20, 2018 Posted in Olympics, Politics in Sport

At the beginning of the year, Sports Shorts covered the developments between North Korea and South Korea as the countries negotiated North Korea’s participation in the PyeongChang WinterOlympics.

The 2018 Winter Olympics was a success; to summarise:

The athletes from North and South Korea marched together under the Korean unification flag during the opening ceremony;
North Korea sent a high-level delegation to attend the games including, the sister of Kim Jong-Un, Kim Yo-jong who shook hands with President Moon at the start of the games;
The delegation invited President Moon to visit North Korea;
The countries submitted a combined team to compete in the women’s ice hockey competition.

This is a testament to the spirit of the Olympic Games.

More recently, it has been announced that the two countries will pursue a joint bid to host the Olympic Games in 2032. South Korea’s sports minister, Do Jong-hwan, spoke about the joint proposal:

“it’s a proposal of hosting the events in Seoul and Pyeongyang. The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics showed the Olympic values very well. I hope peace in Northeast Asia can continue through sports”.

Brussel’s Court of Appeal Challenges CAS Jurisdiction Clause in FIFA Statutes

By Simon Grossobel on September 17, 2018 Posted in Court of Arbitration for Sport, Football, Law, Player contracts, Rules and regulations

In recent weeks, the media has reacted rather dramatically to the decision handed down by the Brussel’s Court of Appeal on 28 August 2018, in a case brought by Belgian football club RFC Seraing (Seraing). The precise impact of the decision remains to be seen although it is unlikely that this represents the fall of international sports arbitration as we know it. In fact, the CAS has been here before – in 2016 the German Supreme Court upheld a CAS arbitration agreement in the Pechstein case.

The coverage has centred around the Court’s finding that “enforced arbitration” clauses contained in the FIFA, UEFA and Royal Belgian Football Association (URBSFA) Statutes and Regulations which give jurisdiction to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), may be challenged. This is on the basis that such clauses may be too general and do not concern a “specific legal relationship”.

The Proceedings

In 2015, Belgian football club RFC Seraing and Doyen Sports (Doyen), an investment fund in support of third party ownership, challenged a transfer ban issued by FIFA, which held Seraing to be in breach of the FIFA Third Party Ownership (TPO) rules found is section V of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP). Seraing were consequently banned from registering players in four (4) consecutive registration periods. Seraing appealed the FIFA decision before the CAS, resulting in a decision dated 9 March 2017 (TAS 2016/A/4490). In that decision, the Panel partially modified FIFA’s ruling reducing the ban on registering players to three (3) consecutive registration periods:

“RFC Seraing is prohibited from registering players, both nationally and internationally, during the three (3) complete and consecutive registration periods following notification of this arbitration award.”

Unhappy with the ruling, Seraing and Doyen appealed the decision before the Swiss Federal Tribunal in proceedings marked 4A 260/2017. The judgment dated 20 February 2018 made reference to the Lazuntina and Pechtein cases and inter alia: upheld the independence of the CAS as an arbitral institution, upheld the basis of FIFA’s TPO rules rejecting the argument that it interfered with the economic freedom of clubs and rejected the appellant’s dis-proportionality argument in relation to the penalty on the basis that such a claim was not admissible before the Federal Tribunal.

Is a salary cap the answer to Team Sky’s dominance in cycling?

By Alastair Purssell and Jack Blakey on August 24, 2018 Posted in Funding, Tour de France

Sports Shorts has previously covered the idea of introducing a form of a salary cap in football after Aleksander Ceferin, the UEFA President, suggested that the greatest problem facing football is “the competitive balance between teams”.

The idea of balancing competition by imposing a salary cap system is now being discussed amongst the cycling community after Team Sky’s recent dominance in the sport.

Team Sky launched in 2010 and won the 2012 Tour de France with Bradley Wiggins, followed by victory the next year through Chris Froome who went on to win the Tour de France in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Team Sky won this year’s race with Geraint Thomas, which signaled their sixth Tour de France triumph within seven years. Froome also won Team Sky’s first Vuelta a España in 2017 (becoming the first British rider to win the race) and its first Giro d’Italia this year.

It is no secret that Team Sky are dominating the sport. Chris Froome himself admitted in 2016 that, “If I was riding for a small team it would be very different.”

I’m stumped: Bowler denies batsman maiden ton but gives opposition the win

By Isabelle Sadler on August 20, 2018 Posted in Amateur Sport, Cricket, Discipline, Rules and regulations

You are a bowler playing in a Somerset Cricket League fixture. The batting team needs five runs to win but giving up two runs will provide the batsman his maiden ton.

Do you:

Bowl the ball, try to get the batting team out before they make five runs; or
Throw the ball to the boundary? This concedes five runs so the opposing team win and denies the batsman his maiden ton.

Option B was the unusual decision made by a player from Purnell Cricket Club in a match against Minehead Second XI. Although the reasons for him doing so are unclear, as a result he received a nine game ban from playing in the league.

The Somerset Cricket League’s Disciplinary Committee reviewed the incident and reached this decision on the basis that (1) his actions were against the spirit of the game and (2) the player had brought the league, his team and the game of cricket into disrepute. These grounds are detailed in the SCL’s Rules for the Season 2018, which is taken from the England and Wales Cricket Board’s Model Discipline Regulations. The relevant details of which are:

The Spirit of Cricket

1.2 Spirit of Cricket

Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws, but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself. The major responsibility for ensuring the spirit of fair play rests with the captains.

20 million to one – the FIFA eWorld Cup

By Tim Lowles on August 6, 2018 Posted in eSports, Football, Olympics

Traditionally during the British summer months, sports other than football get to dominate the headlines through the game’s summer break.

Despite recent events in Russia lengthening last year’s football season, this weekend saw a number of non-football related events take the sporting headlines:

England won a thrilling test match in the first of five this summer against the number one ranked side in the World, India;
The Netherlands defeated Ireland in Women’s hockey World Cup; and
Georgia Hall became only the fifth British female golfer to win a Major tournament, and with the added pressure of doing so under the intense scrutiny of her father, who is also her caddie.

One other major event, however, was football related, as Saudi Arabia’s Mosaad ‘Msdossary’ Aldossary, was crowned winner of the 2018 Fifa eWorld Cup in London, securing himself a $250,000 prize as a result.

The rise of gaming and eSports has been covered in some detail on this blog. Yesterday’ event was yet further evidence of its exponential growth.

How many tournaments can claim a winner narrowed down from over 20 million entrants? This is how many entered this year’s tournament in November last year with Aldossary claiming victory at the Grand Final at the O2 in front of a crowd of hundreds.