Criminal violence is not part of sport.

• Author: King, Bruce
• Position: Special Report on Sports and Law

Ken and Steve are big hockey fans. Ken was sitting in Steve's living room on Saturday night watching the hockey game on TV. As the second period ended, a fight broke out between two players. The referees let the players fight until one of them fell down. Then the referees broke up the fight, and the players each received a penalty. One of the players had a bloody nose, which he dabbed with a towel while he sat in the penalty box.

During the intermission, Ken wondered aloud why fighting in hockey is allowed if it is against the law. "Good question!" said Steve. Steve was a sports lawyer and knew the answer. "Pass me the popcorn and I'll explain it to you," he said.

Steve started with his explanation. "In the heat of the game, some athletes lose their cool. They yell at the referee and other players. Some fight. Others use their equipment, like hockey sticks or baseball bats, to hit their competitor or the referee. Usually, when fighting occurs or equipment is used as a weapon, the league will punish the player for breaking the rules. Sometimes the attacking player is sued or faces criminal charges. Usually, there are no legal consequences."

Ken was interested and asked, "So, what is the law? Why is it that sometimes the courts get involved and sometimes they don't? How come fighting in the National Hockey League is not considered a crime?"

Steve began, "First, we'll talk about criminal law. The Criminal Code of Canada defines assault as the intentional application of force, directly or indirectly, to another person without that person's consent. It is a Criminal Code offence to touch another person, unless that person gives their consent. Touching can be very slight or very rough. If the person consents, then it is not an assault."

Ken interrupted, "Consent sounds important. What's that?"

"Well," said Steve, "that is the permission a person gives to allow another to touch or apply force to him. Consent is given in one of two ways. One way is when a person expressly tells another it is okay to touch. The other way is when it is implied by the situation that it is okay to touch even though nobody said anything about it."

"Okay," said Ken, "I think I understand. You can have express consent or implied consent to apply force to another person. So what does that have to do with hockey?"

"I'm getting to that," said Steve. "When athletes play a sport, they impliedly consent to allow other players to make contact with them during the game. For...