BASKETBALL: Just Sport Ireland Hands Down First Arbitration Decision

Just Sport Ireland ("JSI"), the specialist independent dispute resolution service for Irish sporting disputes established in October 2007, has issued its first arbitration decision in a dispute involving Basketball Ireland & St. Paul's Basketball Club, Killarney ("St. Paul's"). The entire process which involved an initial mediation before progressing to arbitration lasted less than 10 weeks with the arbitration process which is final & binding on both parties costing less than €1,500.

The dispute between the two parties centred on the decision by the Super League Management Board ("SMLB"), a body established by Basketball Ireland to administer the annual Super League competition, not to grant St. Paul's a licence to compete in the 2008/2009 Super League.

St. Paul's having utilised all of Basketball Ireland's own internal mechanisms for challenging the decision of the SMLB not to grant them a licence took the matter to JSI for final resolution in accordance with Basketball Ireland's governing rules.

The dispute between Basketball Ireland and St. Paul's first went to mediation with JSI. The mediation process failed to produce a negotiated settlement and the matter was referred to arbitration on June 10th. The Arbitration Panel, made up of Solicitor Liam Keane (also Secretary to the GAA's Dispute Resolution Authority), Mr. Joe Revington S.C. & Mr. George Spotswood (formerly Discipline Officer to the IRFU), held an oral hearing on Friday July 11th at Sport HQ and handed down their decision ten days later on July 21st with only the issue of costs outstanding.

The Panel upheld the decision of the Super League Men's Board not to grant a licence to St. Paul's. In making their decision the Panel noted that it was not unreasonable for the SLMB to refuse to award a licence to St. Paul's as a result of the club's failure to meet the scoring criteria.

Following consideration of submissions by the parties in relation to costs, the Arbitration Panel held on Friday (1st August) that each party would be responsible for their own costs incurred in connection with the arbitration and the costs of the arbitration totalling less than €1,500 would be split evenly between them.

JSI was set up to offer a fast & cost-effective alternative to the courts for the resolution of sporting disputes. Sarah O'Connor, Registrar of Just Sport Ireland speaking on the first decision stated:

"We firmly believed when establishing Just Sport Ireland that there was a need for a specialised fast and cost-effective mechanism for the resolution of sporting disputes other than recourse to the courts. No one likes to see disputes arising in sport but unfortunately the reality is that they do occur and recently there has been an increasing trend to have to the courts in an effort to resolve them. We feel that this first decision is a vindication of the need for JSI as an alternative to formal litigation and we are delighted that a final and binding decision was handed down within 10 weeks of first notification of the dispute and that arbitration costs were kept below €1500. While we are conscious that this sum is not inconsiderable to sporting organisations it is very favourable when compared to the costs that would have been incurred had the matter ended up in the courts."

Basketball Ireland was one of the first National Governing Bodies of Sport ("NGBs") to make provision within its rules for referral to JSI as a mechanism of final appeal in the event that its own internal procedures failed to resolve a dispute to the satisfaction of all parties.

A number of other NGBs have since followed suit including the Irish Hockey Association & Special Olympics Ireland whilst a number of other sports such as Irish Gymnastics, Irish Squash, Swim Ireland & the Irish Sailing Association are in the process of adopting JSI.

A full copy of the decision is available from the JSI website www.justsport.ie or from Sarah O'Connor at 01 625 1155.

For further information, please contact:-
Sarah O'Connor, Registrar JSI 01 625 1155 or Roddy Guiney, WHPR, 01 669 0030