The Institute of Sports Law and Ethics (ISLE) at Santa Clara University is currently active on three fronts: Deflategate, homophobia and safer soccer. Re Deflategate, Ron Katz, co-founder of ISLE, has been quoted extensively in the New York Times: See here and here.

Re homophobia, ISLE on May 6 gave its Ethics of Sports (ETHOS) Award to You Can Play, an organization that advocates for the LGBT community in sports. Emphasizing that all that matters on the field of play is ability, You Can Play’s motto is “If you can play, you can play.”

Re safer soccer for children, ISLE has joined forces with Sports Legacy Institute, headquartered in Boston, to advocate against heading for children under the age of 14, a position based on the scientific evidence that heading under 14 puts children at risk of brain damage. The campaign, the website for which is safersoccer.org, started with extensive press coverage right before last year’s men’s World Cup. This year the campaign will have a high profile during the women’s World Cup, when it will be featured on investigative journalism television shows.

According to Katz, “It is gratifying that ISLE is getting national recognition for its activities in these diverse and important areas. No other organization has ISLE’s exclusive focus on ethical problems in sport, problems which increase on almost a daily basis."