Sport, safety and participation – the year in review 2019/20

The past year has once again seen some important clarifications in the law of negligence and nuisance and the ways that they apply to sport. In particular, developments in the general law of tort will have significant impact on the way that sports litigation will be run. The continuing development of the law relating to vicarious liability and its application to historic sexual abuse cases has begun to take shape and will influence forthcoming cases in the years to come. 

This article examines the key UK case law and trend developments affecting sports safety and participation over the past twelve months, together with the themes to watch going forwards. Specifically, it looks at:

• Developments in the law applying to sports participants
• Developments in the law applying to sports spectators
• Developments in the law applying to historic sexual abuse cases
• Clarification of the doctrine of vicarious liability
• Developments in the law of private nuisance
• Developments overseas
• Looking to the future