An article from the Onside Law team on seizing the opportunity in esports and virtual sport for rights holders.

The UK Government has announced specific guidance on the phased return of training, sport and recreation in England, including the return to training of elite athletes.

A must read for sports, clubs and elite training venue hosts and operators to deliver a safe return to organised training. Please click here.

We are delighted to have advised longstanding client Sn&ck Media, on its acquisition of GIVEMESPORT (Facebook’s largest global sports publisher) from Bragg Gaming Group.  Senior Associate, Harriet Leach, was at the helm with support from corporate partner Simon Thorp and associates Charlie Hansom and Alex Brooks.

Excitingly, this deal sees Sn&ck Media become one of the largest sports publishers in the UK, with an audience of over 210 million unique users.  Congratulations to all involved.

Please click here for a snapshot from the team at Onside Law setting out the key legal considerations that should be taken into account before any return to sport.

In our series of business and sport’s industry funding updates, here is the latest support being made available to specific sports: Football, Tennis, English Rugby League and Swimming due to the impact of COVID-19.

We will keep you posted as more funding packages are announced.

Original newspaper article on football from VE Day 1945 – interesting parallels with the issues now facing sport

On the eve of the 75^th anniversary of VE Day, here is a fascinating newspaper article on the status of the football league at the end of Second World War (see above).  The article is taken from an original copy of the Daily Herald dated 8 May (VE Day) 1945, held in theThorp/Wakefield family archives. Whilst the current pandemic bears no resemblance to the magnitude of the Second World War, the article reveals some very interesting parallels with current issues facing football and sport more generally.

The 1939/40 football league season had been suspended three games in, the last game being completed one day after Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939.  Blackpool were leading the first division! Amongst other reasons, the football season was suspended as large gatherings of crowds were suspended under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939, which resonates with current lockdown restrictions.

The article states that the football league’s original decision to resume the leagues (First Division, Second Division, Third Division (North) and Third Division (South)) on the same basis as 1939 without promotion and relegation was rescinded. Instead for the 1945-46 season, the First Division and Second Division would be amalgamated and then split in to a North (won by Sheffield United) and South Division (won by Birmingham City) in order to minimise travel. The Article also refers to the withdrawal of the prior proposal for four teams to come up from the Third Division (two from each regional league) and four to go down from the Second Division. We understand that the football leagues eventually reverted to the 1939 model by the 1946/47 season.  Liverpool won the 1946/47 First Division with Manchester City winning the Second Division.

In other parallels with the PL and EFL’s current predicaments, the report refers to the league meeting also being devoted to discussing player wages, bonuses, benefits and “talent money”, but decisions being deferred until finalisation of revised employment regulations.  75 years on football faces some very similar challenges!

Separately, alongside the article on football, it is interesting to see that, as is expected now, horse racing was one of the first sports to return.

Simon Thorp