Community sport is the beating heart of Australian life, but recent headlines serve as a sobering reminder of the integrity challenges it faces and the difficultly passionate volunteers have in navigating complexity. Recently in Melbourne, Australia, a junior sporting organisation made national headlines on consecutive days for two unrelated integrity matters. The first was an accusation of sexual assault, and the second related to allegations of lying about a player’s age.
While one of these issues is evidently more severe than the other, both highlight the unsettling reality that such incidents are more common than they should be. Community sport is run by passionate volunteers and oversees an estimated 2.3 million children participate each year. There are not many sectors that represent so many Australians, and, outside of the education sector there is nowhere children are more represented.
The Reported Rates of Violence
A 2022 Victorian University study revealed a troubling picture with 82% of participants reporting they experienced some form of violence in community sport as a child. Most people had experienced psychological (76%) and physical violence (66%) while more than one third experienced sexual violence (38%)1. If this research is truly representative of the broader community, the numbers are staggering.
Let’s reframe those percentages as what the real numbers may be:
- 1,886,000 children experiencing some form of violence in their community sport
- 1,748,000 children experiencing psychological violence in their community sport
- 1,518,000 children experiencing physical violence in their community sport
- 874,000 children experiencing sexual violence in their community sport
Significant progress has been made by impactful organisations like Play By The Rules, who champion good behaviour strategies and provide practical resources for Sport to adopt. However, if the findings from the 2022 study are close to representative of the broader community, it underscores the urgent need for action above and beyond adherence to the National Integrity Framework.
Establishing Reporting Pathways & Safeguarding Policies
The National Integrity Framework (NIF) overseen by Sports Integrity Australia (SIA) is a strong starting point for community sport. There are a set of policy templates which can be used to ensure your organisation is aligned to best practices. However, as stated on the SIA website, only national sporting organisations can access their independent complaint handling services.
A key deterrent to misconduct or illegal practices is an organisation fostering a culture of transparency, which not only addresses bad behaviour but also provides a clear, accessible channel for reporting incidents beyond the community Club. Reporting pathways must not only adhere to best practices but also be adaptable.
Reporting pathways should not only adhere to best practice, but they should be flexible enough to fit the many varied use cases that comes with different sports, at different levels and different ages.
Secondly, the reports should then be stored and managed in a manner which:
- guides the recipient of the report through an informed and compliant process,
- is trauma informed for all parties and allows for anonymous reporting and continued communication after the initial report, and, aids in all manner of reporting requirements.
Reporting pathways alone are not enough to foster positive and safe community sports environments. A modern case management platform is an essential tool for sports leaders, offering comprehensive support across the community to transform issues into insights and preventive strategies. By leveraging such a platform, leaders can meet the requirements outlined in the NIF, track and report on integrity issues, generate game day reports, monitor on-field aggression and tribunal hearings, and oversee complaints.
Additionally, this technology simplifies the process for community volunteers and clubs, ensuring adherence to best practices, delivering consistent responses, and upholding the core values of the sport.
Rely streamlines access, configuration, and deployment of this advanced case management platform with just a few clicks. By collaborating with athletes, community leaders, professional teams, and institutions, we’ve passionately developed Rely to empower sports leaders in upholding their values and fostering safer environments for all participants.
Rely is an incident management platform that helps employers prevent, mitigate, respond to and report on workplace issues, and meet your obligations under WHS laws. Book a demo to find out more.
1 – https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/kb/child-protection-in-sport#how_extensive_is_the_problem
