As we were reminded during this summer’s World Cup, Sir Alf Ramsey, on his retirement as England football manager, commented that he hoped the ugly trend of media intrusion into football was a flash in the pan and would soon die out.
The reverse has, of course, been the case. Nearly 40 years on from the success of 1966, sports-related commercial activities account for an increasingly significant percentage of world trade. Media coverage of sport, if not the intrusion, has been the driving force behind much of this growth. The recognition of the commercial value to be gained by proper rights management has been accompanied by the need to document and enforce these rights – meaning the increased involvement of lawyers.
