ABSTRACT
Governance is defined in Chapter 1 of this handbook as “oversight of the organisation’s performance and its compliance with relevant regulations and law” (emphasis added). This acknowledgement of the role of the law in regulating sport governance is often overlooked and under-researched (Forster, 2016). Indeed, in terms of research focus, what is evident from the sport management literature is the absence of consideration of the role of the law makers – the courts and the parliaments – in determining sport governance practices. To illustrate, Gammelsaeter and Senaux (2013) noted:
…when many of the studies reviewed here suffer from not being situated in an explicit governance context, this does not mean they are flawed. Rather it reflects…a lack of engagement in studying football in more typical governance disciplines such as management and organisation studies. (p. 154)
