Regulation of Sport News

Sam Shurey represents the RFU in appeal proceedings

19th February 2025

3PB sports law barrister Sam Shurey advised and represented the RFU in an appeal arising from the abandonment of a recent Championship Rugby fixture between Chinnor RFC and Doncaster Knights RFC after floodlight failure. The match was stopped in the 68th minute with Chinnor leading 18-13. The RFU Disputes Committee ordered that the score at the time of the abandonment was to stand as the final score. Doncaster Knights RFC appealed against that decision. The...

Top sports and regulatory lawyer Louise Hartley joins 3PB

28th October 2024

Louise Hartley, who moves from her role as Head of Legal at Sport England, joins the national chambers 3PB (3 Paper Buildings) having also worked extensively across a range of other regulatory sectors including the healthcare and telecommunications industries. Louise led the legal function at Sport England for more than five years, having earlier spent four years working as in-house counsel at both the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the PSA (Phone-paid Services Authority)....

Gareth Graham appointed as one of the new chairs of the BHA Judicial Panel

21st July 2023

3PB sports, employment and professional discipline barrister Gareth Graham (pictured here) has been appointed as one of the new chairs for the British Horseracing Authority's (BHA) independent Judicial Panel, which encompasses the Disciplinary Panel, Appeal Board and Licensing Committee. The Judicial Panel is established by the BHA as the pool of lawyers to hear all cases or appeals referred to it in connection with the Rules of Racing. Following a review of the Judicial Panel’s processes,...

FA barrister Sam Shurey transfers to 3PB

3rd January 2023

Sports and regulatory barrister Sam Shurey (2015 call), pictured here, has joined 3PB (3 Paper Buildings). Sam was formerly an in-house barrister at The Football Association (The FA), where he enjoyed a busy caseload including a wide range of disciplinary and safeguarding issues arising from youth, grassroots, non-league, Football League and Premier League football. Sam's work at The FA involved advising on, and appearing in, cases concerning on-field misconduct , betting related misconduct, discrimination, social...

5 year FA ban successfully overturned by 3PB Sports Team

6th October 2020

3PB sports law and disciplinary specialist barristers Nick Cotter and Graham Gilbert were successful in a FA appeal hearing on behalf of a talented 16 year old footballer, Nathan Hieatt, who in February 2020 was accused of spitting at a referee's foot and given a 5 year ban at the initial FA hearing. In spite of five witnesses from his team and his college tutor corroborating Nathan’s story, and with the referee having no independent...

3PB head of sports Louis Weston and sports barrister Gemma White have written an article for LawInSport calling for a unified approach to sanctions for corruption offences across sports disciplines. While the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has well known codified sanctions for doping violations, there is no consistency of punishment between sports for players or participants who breach anti-corruption or betting rules. Louis and Gemma's article examines the extent of the disparities, the reasons...