Legal aspects of sport during the COVID-19 pandemic - case study of Poland in the global context

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic made a huge impact on sports. Due to increased risk of virus transmission, governments across the world decided to introduce regulations restricting or even banning physical activity in sport facilities. This lead to cancellation or postponement of numerous sport events at the outbreak of the pandemic. International and domestic health and sports authorities prepared guidelines and laws implementing safety rules including a variety of public health and social measures applicable in different phases of development of the virus. Such strategies on dealing with the pandemic were crucial in terms of reopening sports for normal training and competition. This article gives a general overview of global literature and official documents introduced by the World Health Organization and a several international sports federations concerning legal aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in reference to sport. It presents the current and further research fields in sports law relating to the consequences of coronavirus both for elite and amateur sport. This concerns particularly the impact of public health and social measures on the financial condition of the sport industry as well as planning of policies enabling the restoration of sport in a post-COVID reality. Moreover the paper presents an evolution of COVID-legislation in connection to sports on the example of Poland. The study shows that dynamic changes of the pandemic hinder the development and implementation of a clear strategy on how to deal with the illness and get back to mass sport. Instead constant modifications of prevention regulation are introduced which may lead to chaos and incomprehension of current rules. An analysis of the Polish legislation on COVID may lead to adoption of good practice solutions and avoidance of mistakes by stakeholders and policymakers in other countries.