The Football Association v. Accrington Stanley FC

Nick De Marco KC successfully acted for the Club in an appeal brought by The FA against a decision of a Regulatory Commission dismissing a charge against the Club for breach of Regulation 10.5 of the FA Football Agents Regulations, that a Club must not “Engage or appoint a person who is not an FA Registered Football Agent to perform Football Agent Services”. The Commission had found that the word “engage” meant a Club entering into an arrangement with a person to perform agency services, whereas the FA argued for a more broader meaning to include any discussion or involvement with a person who was not an agent.

The Appeal Board dismissed The FA’s appeal, referring to important principles of interpretation of sporting rules that focus on what the rules as drafted meant according to normal principes of construction and not what bodies like The FA might have wanted them to mean (see paragraphs 26-27).

A copy of their written reasons is available here.