UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Jamie Singer and Flora Peel, Onside Law
Project Red Card and Lloyd v Google A ruling in Lloyd v Google slightly reduced the uncertainty around the future of athletes’ data and Project Red Card. The Supreme Court unanimously held that the claimant should not be successful in bringing a representative action against Google. The judge ruled that, to be awarded compensation, the claimant must have actually suffered damage as a result of the breach. The breach alone is not sufficient. Notably, group action such as in Project Red Card may no longer be viable following this rul - ing. However, there is still a possibility for indi - viduals to bring a claim where damage has been suffered. As the amount of sports data being collected in the UK increases and the methods of exploita - tion become more complex, it is important that sports bodies and stakeholders establish and implement robust data policies which anticipate and mitigate potential legal risks. Nevertheless, as sports data becomes a more important com - mercial asset in the industry, the number of legal challenges between stakeholders is only expect - ed to increase. 5.6 Data Protection Data Protection Legislation The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) and, following Brexit, the retained UK version of the GDPR (known as the UK GDPR), may all apply to the use and exploitation of sports-related data in the UK. Post-Brexit, the GDPR is only relevant to UK organisations that continue to offer goods or services to, or monitor the behaviour of, EEA individuals (for example, a club that sells mer - chandise to fans based in EEA countries).
• Manchester City FC employed an astrophysi - cist and Treasury policy adviser, Laurie, Shaw, to head up a team of analysts at the club. • Arsenal FC has a team of 15 people solely responsible for the data analysis side of the game. • Brighton and Hove Albion FC is heavily reli - ant on data analytics in order to find talented young players and coaches. • World Rugby has also implemented new technology in mouthguards that detect when a player has suffered a heavy hit. This will then flag the requirement for a head injury assessment and the player will be removed from the field. These have become a common feature across international and club fixtures. Issues for Sports Bodies While sports bodies may assume they have the right to collect and commercially exploit data relating to their sport (or to restrict a third party from collecting such data), the legal real - ity is often more complex. Sports bodies must consider the effect of data protection, contract, intellectual property and competition legal frameworks (among others), often in multiple jurisdictions. In the wake of GDPR (as referred to in 5.6 Data Protection ), fans and athletes are also becom - ing more alert to the use of their personal data by third parties. In July 2020, a group of over 400 professional football players in England and Scotland announced that they were taking legal action against various betting and data process - ing companies (including official partners of their clubs and leagues) for the use of player person - al data without consent, in breach of GDPR, in what has been dubbed “Project Red Card” .
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