The Commentator: Volume 86 –22 July 2012

Welcome to Volume 86 of The Commentator. In his President’s column, Ian Hunt reminds us of the feast of first class sport we have been enjoying lately and looks forward to events such as the London Olympics and the Perth Conference. In the first article for this edition, Martin Ross, Partner and Tess Lynch, Lawyer both of Hall and Wilcox in Melbourne review the principles behind the “purview of the rules” which arguably allows domestic tribunals without either statutory or contractual jurisdiction to nonetheless, deal with persons who are not members or direct participants in the activities covered by the tribunal. In the second article, Allana Smith, Lawyer – content acquisition for Fox Sports, writes about the new digital “fantasy games” designed using existing statistical and other information and the impact copyright laws are likely to have on them. In my editorial I discuss the tall poppy syndrome and how unfair it is to our athletes.