Sport Resolutions’ 2023/24 Annual Report is ready to view

Sport Resolutions' 2023/24 Annual Report has been published.

In announcing the 2023/24 Annual Report, Sport Resolutions' Chair Audley Sheppard KC said: 

“Sport Resolutions has had another very busy year providing independent dispute resolution services to sports, nationally and internationally.”

“Key stakeholders in major sports need to be able to refer the determination of disputes to organisations that can be trusted to operate independently and appoint tribunals that will provide robust and sound decisions. Too much is at stake to get it wrong.

Procedures must also be efficient and cost effective. It would be better still if disputes can be resolved amicably. We will be encouraging parties to engage in mediation.

In order to provide this world-leading service we are indebted to all our panel members. We have recently concluded our three-yearly renewal process, giving us unprecedented coverage in terms of skillset, geography, cultural and linguistic ability. This will, no doubt, serve us well as we continue to assist sport in the UK and beyond.

I should also like to thank and recognise all those who contribute to our Pro Bono Service. This service was utilised just shy of 100 times in the year. The benefits of being able to offer this service to athletes are obvious – both practically and financially, and we remain grateful to all those who give their time freely.”

Sport Resolutions' Chief Executive Richard Harry stated:

“We are proud to announce that our Panel is now 33% female – a marked difference to when I joined SR in 2010. Whilst this is encouraging and positive, there is clearly still more work to be done. Our Panel members also represent 33 different nations and between them cover 21 languages, helpful given the increasing amount of international work that we do.

We are fortunate to have the best of the best on our Panel and we recognise that they will be very much in demand elsewhere. Notwithstanding this reality, we do not prohibit any Panel member from accepting other work – we are confident that we can manage conflicts on a case-by-case basis without recourse to such unnecessary restrictions.”

“In 2023/24 we received 379 enquiries of which 346 turned into referrals warranting support or action on our part. This is a 10% increase in enquiries and a 40% increase in cases year on year. Our caseload involved individuals from 32 different countries, and, in total, we worked with 38 different sports.”

“SR used to be focussed on the UK only, but our work now is truly global as we provide services to 26 international federations in addition to providing doping tribunal support to 13 RADOs.”

Sport Resolutions’ Head of Case Management Kylie Brackenridge added:

“Safeguarding work continued to be the forefront of our work, closely followed by anti-doping on both the national and international level. SR continues to operate World Athletics (WA) Disciplinary Tribunal and in November 2023, WA appointed SR as independent Secretariat to their newly formed World Athletics Safeguarding Case Management Group (CMG).”

“Our international work continues to grow, with more than 26 international federations integrating SR into their policies and processes. We anticipate this number will continue to grow as more organisations opt to designate SR as their dispute resolution service provider across a variety of services. For example, Badminton World Federation and newly formed World Boxing entrusted SR to appoint their Independent Vetting Panels and provide secretariat support and assistance. Both federations have recognised the importance of an independent and robust process, and SR is proud to assist with these processes. Another example is the trust placed in SR by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) to administer the FIS’ Ethics Commission. The first matter, with the Independent Secretariat assisting, was referred, and determined in the last year.” 

To view the full report, including samples of concluded cases and statistics, please click here.