# Do football fields exist outside of the law? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 24, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217 "2010-10-24T21:00:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/1 "2010-10-24T21:00:09Z")
This may be a stupid question, but does the law not exist on a football field? Is there something about the NFLPA’s contractual agreement with the NFL that says no one can be charged with a crime while participating in the sport as it is defined by the league? What about other sports? For example, take the big hit on DeSean Jackson by Dunta Robinson from last week. Had Jackson, instead of getting up, died instead, would Robinson be facing criminal charges? What about a couple of hockey players throwing down their gloves and one of them gets a one-in-a-million punch to the other guy’s head, he drops to the ice and cracks his skull and dies a few days later. Would the law get involved? What about other lesser charges, like assault? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/2 "2010-10-24T21:17:08Z")
When Bertuzzi (I think it was him) wrecked Moore’s neck with a cheap shot, he did face charges in Canda. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/3 "2010-10-24T21:19:49Z")
I don’t see how a contract between two private organizations could waive the law. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/4 "2010-10-24T21:25:17Z")
He could have been charged, but he almost certainly would have been acquitted by a jury. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/5 "2010-10-24T21:38:45Z")
Multiple boxers have been killed in the ring, and as far as I know, no one was ever charged in those deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/6 "2010-10-24T21:42:35Z")
> [@davidw](#): > > Multiple boxers have been killed in the ring, and as far as I know, no one was ever charged in those deaths. Right, but not because the ring was _outside the law_. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/7 "2010-10-25T01:09:05Z")
Physical contact in some sports is assumed to be consented to. If you suit up for a football game you are tacitly consenting to being hit and tackled in the manner one expects in professional football. No reasonable person would think otherwise. So the physical contact typical or pro football is entirely consensual, and so is not against the law. Now, if a football player were to, say, wait until a guy had his helmet off and then sneak up behind him, take his own helmet off and smash the guy’s skull in, that would most definitely be a crime, since that is not something a reasonable person would say is a typical act in a football game to which the victim had consented. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/8 "2010-10-25T04:27:18Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > When Bertuzzi (I think it was him) wrecked Moore’s neck with a cheap shot, he did face charges in Canda. There have been many other cases where hockey players were charged with [assault](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_in_ice_hockey), with some convictions. There were even a couple of early cases of manslaughter, in 1905 and 1907. Here’s a recent case in which a player in a independent-league baseball game was charged with [assault](http://sports-law.blogspot.com/2007/08/policing-violence-in-baseball.html). ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/9 "2010-10-25T13:03:40Z")
There is also the case of [Ben Christensen](http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/020205christensen.html), a baseball pitcher who intentionally threw at a guy _who was on-deck_ in a college game. He was suspended and sued, but as far as it seems, never faced criminal charges, which surprised me. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/10 "2010-10-25T14:22:25Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > There is also the case of [Ben Christensen](http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/020205christensen.html), a baseball pitcher who intentionally threw at a guy _who was on-deck_ in a college game. He was suspended and sued, but as far as it seems, never faced criminal charges, which surprised me. _“Juuuust a bit outside…”,_ ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/11 "2010-10-25T14:37:25Z")
The 1979 case of Hackbart v Cincinnati Bengals does stand for the fact that a football team and player can be sued for the intentional tort of assault when one player takes a really bad cheap shot at another. [Link](http://openjurist.org/601/f2d/516/hackbart-v-cincinnati-bengals-inc) ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/12 "2010-10-25T15:19:48Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > There is also the case of [Ben Christensen](http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/news/020205christensen.html), a baseball pitcher who intentionally threw at a guy _who was on-deck_ in a college game. He was suspended and sued, but as far as it seems, never faced criminal charges, which surprised me. Nice to see that [Christensen topped out at AA](http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=christ001ben). ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/13 "2010-10-25T15:55:11Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Right, but not because the ring was _outside the law_. Right. When boxers get into the ring, they consent to mutual combat within the rules of the match, but going outside of the rules can void that consent. In 1983, Luis Resto and his trainer tampered with both his gloves and wraps before a welterweight fight with Billy Collins, Jr., removing two inches of padding from the gloves and soaking his wrapped fists in plaster of Paris. Resto gave Collins a brutal ten round beating that left him dazed and bloodied, saying Resto’s hands “felt like bricks,” which they more or less were. The fight left Collins with horrible facial injuries, blurred vision from an irreparably damaged iris that made him unable to continue boxing, and deep depression, all of which very likely contributed to the car accident that killed him nine months later. Collins consented to a boxing match, but what Resto and his trainer did went far beyond that consent. Resto and his trainer were both convicted and jailed on criminal charges of assault, conspiracy, and criminal possession of a deadly weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/14 "2010-10-27T05:23:38Z")
[Rugby league](http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/625068/league-player-charged-over-on-field-assault) also, and there’s been other actions taken for incidents on the field. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/15 "2010-10-28T11:17:32Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > What about other lesser charges, like assault? In 1995, Scottish international striker Duncan Ferguson was jailed for 3 months after head-butting an opponent on the field of play. Ferguson, with Rangers at the time of the offence, was an Everton player when sentenced. His manager, Joe Royle, attacked the decision as ‘incredible’. He said: > [@](#): > > Everton would give him its “fullest support” and Ferguson would remain a hero to the Merseyside club, the manager said. "Anyone who knows him will tell you he is a very pleasant young man. He is no bad lad at all. He has been guilty sometimes of stupidity, but mostly immaturity. However: > [@](#): > > Ferguson’s first brush with the law came in February 1991 when he was fined for butting a police officer. A second assault followed two years later when the player was involved in an incident in Edinburgh, striking a man who was on crutches. That also resulted in a fine but less than a year later he was again before the sheriff on an assault charge. Draw your own conclusions. [Link](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/soccer-player-jailed-for-foul-play-1577101.html). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/16 "2010-10-28T16:46:30Z")
Obviously, when you play a contact sport professionally, you are accepting a degree of risk. Every NFL quarterback knows he’s going to be knocked down repeatedly by big, strong, fast men, and that he may well be injured severely. Lawrence Taylor broke Joe Theismann’s leg , and millions of us witnessed that. Taylor wasn’t arrested and Theismann didn’t sue Taylor, even though the injury certainly wasn’t a mere ‘accident.” Theismann didn’t seem to bear Taylor any ill will, because he figured Taylor was just doing his job. In the same way, is Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal both go for a rebound, Shaq isn’t going to be arrested or sued if he slams into Howard and injures him severely. But what about cases like Kermit Washington’s assault on Rudy Tomjanovich? Or Charles Martin’s assault on Jim McMahon? Those assaults were NOT just “part of the game.” In both cases, the offending player was suspended, but he wasn’t arrested or sued, even though I think he SHOULD have been! Charles Martin, you may recall, didn’t sack McMahon- he walked up to him well AFTER a play had ended, picked him up and slammed him onto the ground. That called for a LOT more than expulsion and suspension. THAT was a crime, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/17 "2010-10-28T16:50:59Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > I don’t see how a contract between two private organizations could waive the law. Then every football play has multiple assaults. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/18 "2010-10-28T17:54:52Z")
Certainly Jim McMahon _could have_ sued Charles Martin or Tomjanovich Washington, but I think this is a case where there is an unspoken agreement that players won’t cross that line. Players play and accept the consequences, even if its an egregious act. The Ben Christensen case is pretty unusual in that regard in that it did end up in a civil court, though that was a college game, not pro. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-football-fields-exist-outside-of-the-law/558217/19 "2010-10-29T01:13:11Z")
[http://digg.com/news/sports/Hockey\_Player\_Charged\_with\_Assault\_After\_Cross\_Check](http://digg.com/news/sports/Hockey_Player_Charged_with_Assault_After_Cross_Check) here is a hockey player guilty of assault . I believe Dave Forbes was charged with assault after a fight on the ice.