Comments on: On-Field Immunity?

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:01:44 +0000

Duncan Ferguson was charged with assualt for head-butting John McStay in a Rangers v Raith Rovers match in 1994. The incident was missed by the match officials, however reported to the Police. Ferguson spent 3 months in jail as a result of his conviction.

By: Culture of Soccer » Blog Archive » Afghan Cup 2007

Culture of Soccer » Blog Archive » Afghan Cup 2007 — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:50:42 +0000

[...] tip-offs, however, including the fact that some players covered their legs while playing (see my previous post, which included an incident in Afghanistan in which players were accused of dressing in an [...]

By: Jason Burke Murphy

Jason Burke Murphy — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:06:03 +0000

In the US, prosecution often, but not always, requires someone press charges. Given the tremendous amount of public licensing and other involvement, it is amazing that one can hit someone publicly (with more documentation than usual) and not face prosecution.

If I hit someone (I don’t) I might sit in jail. If a soccer player stomps on another player, they miss out on a few games, which, we are told, costs them money. I don’t get to (or want to) pay money out to hit people.

The consent to injury should not include something blatantly intentional. We need to have a more outraged response to violence.

In Canada, one can do this with a large stick and be invited to join the national team later. This is not normally a violence loving country. The rink is also an exception.

By: 101 Great Goals: latest football goals including Premiership, La Liga, Serie A and Champions League » Blog Archive » Uruguay get off the mark; Venezuela go top of the group

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:59:17 +0000

[...] Culture of Soccer blog has an excellent article discussing how “during the ninety minutes that they are on the [...]

By: Daily Dose 06.30.07 - World Football - The Offside - Soccer News and Opinion from leagues around the world

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:28:03 +0000

[...] What happens on the field, stays on the field (Culture of Soccer) [...]

By: David

David — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:05:12 +0000

Very good points, Linda. After I wrote the post, I thought about some of those ideas, but I don’t know if I could have stated them as clearly as you did. Thanks!

By: Linda

Linda — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 06:15:24 +0000

Forgive me for the length of this comment, but I’ve just done an essay for one of my law courses touching on the issue of violence in sport and how the law is applied, so this post was an really interesting read. I should probably also add that this would only apply to Commonwealth jurisdictions as I don’t know what the law is in other parts of the world.

In both criminal and civil law, the concept of implied consent to injury is used as a defence against charges of assault and battery in sport. Generally it is assumed that the player consents both to injury that happens as a result of action which is within the rules of the sport itself and what is outside the rules but a common ocurrence within the sport by their participation. So in football a sliding tackle that breaks some bones most likely won’t get anybody in trouble, but - as with the QPR brawl - a punch will.

I hope that was useful and not just telling everybody what they knew already.