Hertfordshire's High Sheriff Annual Lecture 2025

Is Sport Worth Regulating ?

This lecture addresses some of the socio-political issues around the regulation of sport and charges for breaching sporting regulations. Whether you are a passionate fan, a student of law, or simply curious about the appeal, benefits and ethics of sport, this lecture aims to challenge your perceptions and ignite debate. Sport is not just a game. It is a reflection of society and significant in the lives of individuals and communities. Come and explore whether regulating it makes the game – and the world – better, and how sport can be harnessed as a force for good.

Among other topics, the lecture will consider a number of basic questions:

• What is the value of sport, and  what are or should be its values?
• How does or might regulation help to achieve integrity and social change?
• How might that best work in the light of the cultural and commercial realities?
• How do disciplinary proceedings impact on these aims, privately and publicly?

Murray Rosen KC

The speaker, Murray Rosen KC, is a senior barrister who has acted as a judge and arbitrator in sports disputes for more than thirty years. He has served as chair of the British Association for Sport and Law and of many sports’ disciplinary panels and appeal boards, and is a member the international Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

He is a strong believer in fairness and in the power and benefits of sport and has a keen appreciation of its social, political and financial aspects. He has participated in sport all his life, is a member of the MCC and Arsenal FC, and still regularly plays real tennis and ping pong. His knowledge of the sports scene and the issues which arise, both commercial and regulatory, in relation to the governance of sport, and its competitions and events, makes him a sympathetic hands-on tribunal chairman and a successful mediator. He has recently initiated an ad hoc working party consulting and reporting on the Impact of Covid-19 on sport disputes resolution procedures, supported and published by LawinSport.