With the move to professionalization of sport in India, there is also a parallel need to not only legally regulate and monitor the field, but also to produce high quality research in the field of sport and the law; provide up to date information on current sports law issues including a resource of sports law material; provide consultancy to sportsmen and sports bodies concerning sports law issues; promote undergraduate and postgraduate study, research and continuing education in sports law; promote ethical solutions to legal issues in sport and notions of “Fair- Play”; and positively address all issues of discrimination in sport.

It is one of the main revenue generating industries of the world and with the propagation of the Internet and other forms of media, the sports industry is growing at a faster tempo. Though financial assistance by the Central Government in the form of funds and grants towards Sports development has been steadily flowing in, they have not been channelized into result-oriented implementation. More than legislations, India will fare better to adopt the aggressive funding strategies of the United States Government and private bodies in order to facilitate sports in the country.

Sports law in India is in its nascent stage and sports law is one of those fields of law that is applied law in the field of sports, physical education and its related field. It is a pure law as opposed to theoretical law and is concerned with how law in general interacts with the activity known as sports. Sports over the past couple of decades have developed itself as a multi-billion-dollar industry. An industry with an all-encompassing worldwide presence is bound to raise its own disputes. This has resulted in the growth and development of sports law as a separate regulation.

The growing interaction between sports and law has created a new need for a greater understanding of how the law relates to the sporting world.1 Since the legislature is yet to form any ‘Sports Laws’, currently, Sports Laws entail an eclectic mix of various laws, some general civil and criminal laws while other specific laws. Hence, the spectrum of Sports Laws, which is an amalgam of diverse legal disciplines, ranges over, but is not limited to, contracts, torts, taxation, labour, competition, broadcasting rights, match fixing and related criminal laws.2

While, the world of sports is mostly self-regulated by the apex body of the respective sport. The international sports body for each sport, made up of national bodies of different countries is at the top of the hierarchy.

The national sports bodies comprise the provincial or state bodies of different countries. The provincial state bodies comprise of various different districts or clubs. In India, professionalization of sport is still a relatively new phenomenon and at present limited to a few sports. Thus, there is a significant informational gap and asymmetry in relation to various aspects relevant to the field of sports.3

Now that the Sports personalities have successfully taken India to the international platform, we should pitch in for better fund utilization and dedicated focus on results. This requires guidance and monitoring by Central Government towards implementation of sports policies through possible amendments in the existing Constitutional set up. Besides appropriate Constitutional Review, sports development in India requires a grass root development approach with active development and a clearly defined institutional framework with a separate set of roles and responsibilities.

The proposed legislation shall broadly focus on the following:

Firstly, it shall provide for establishing a Sports Commission to regulation of sports in India. The Sports Commission shall: advise the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs regarding sports.; support talent identification and promote and foster development and participation in sports at all levels of foundation, participation, performance and excellence; ensure an adequate allocation of funds and resources to national and provincial sports federations and their affiliated bodies;

Secondly, the legislation on sport shall aim at promotion of sport, right from the school level by integrating sports with education by making it a compulsory subject of learning up to the Secondary School level. An appropriate Inter-school and Inter-College/University competition structure shall be introduced at the National, State and District levels.

Thirdly, in addition to the Union and State Governments, the sustained involvement of other agencies, including the Panchayati Raj Institutions, Local Bodies, Educational Institutions, and Sports Federations/Associations in the creation, utilization and proper maintenance of the Sports infrastructure like play fields and stadium, both in rural and urban areas.

Fourthly, the sports federations and associations shall no more be autonomous and shall register itself under this legislation instead of Societies Registration Act and the allocation of funds to these federations shall be routed through the Sports Commission established under the Act. These federations must be accountable to the Sports Commission in respect of fund. The Sports Commission shall have the power to carry out investigation in respect of any misappropriation of funds.

Fifthly, the Sports Commission shall be empowered to carry out dispute resolution. It shall be empowered to constitute panels for adjudicating disputes and punish offenders for violation of code of conduct, offenders under national anti-doping rules etc. Sixthly, the organization like Sports Authority of India shall be under the control of the Sports Commission and shall solely aim at coordinating various sports activities in India.

One sport that India has constantly excelled at is cricket. Cricket is the religion of India, and its worshippers and believers, are the loyal Indian cricket fans. It is evident, it is still the country’s favourite sport. However, the range of available sports is hardly limited to cricket. For years, only a handful of sports have been played professionally in India, and it is only in the past 50 years or so that India added several other sports apart from cricket in its kitty. While, regarding cricket, BCCI4 acts as a regulatory and adjudicating authority, other sports are left in quite a lurch. Its time to not only consider cricket as main sport in this nation but it is time to adapt other sports and it is time for introducing different regulatory bodies for different sports too.

It is time to accept the sports law and it is the time to accept the new change.