Safeguarding in Sport

What is safeguarding?

Safeguarding means taking proactive and continuous action to ensure everyone is safe and treated with respect in sport. It involves creating and embedding safe policies, practices, and cultures that ensure organisations are actively working to prevent harm and have clear procedures for how to act if there are concerns. ^{2, 3, 4, 34}

It can be hard to know how often abuse happens in sport or what form it takes. Abuse is not always recognised or reported and may go on for many years or never be reported at all. ^{5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12}

Safeguarding is for everyone involved in sport—not just athletes and those under 18 years of age—safeguarding is equally important for coaches, officials, administrators, volunteers, spectators, and fans. ^{8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20}

Safeguarding should be a priority for all. When done effectively it creates environments where people of all ages and abilities feel encouraged to speak up if they feel uncomfortable or see something that concerns them. This includes being aware of and reporting potential incidents of harm to children and adults, such as: ^{2, 3, 21}

• Sexual harassment, bullying, or abuse. ^{22, 23, 24, 25, 26}
• Threats of or actual violence. ^{13, 15}
• Verbal, emotional, or social abuse. ^{13, 27, 28}
• Cultural or identity abuse, such as racial, sexual, or gender-based discrimination or hate crimes, including harm perpetrated online. ^{13, 14, 29, 30, 31}
• Coercion and exploitation, including sexploitation. ²⁹
• Abuse of power. ^{21, 26, 28, 32}

Safeguarding for children and young people

The safety and wellbeing of children and young people must be embedded in the culture of every Australian sporting organisation and upheld at every level of the sport. ²

All individuals involved in delivering sport in Australia must understand and actively meet their legal, ethical and governance responsibilities for child safety. This includes boards, committees, administrators, volunteers, coaches, parents and participants. ²

Any behaviour that places children and young people at risk is unacceptable. There must be zero tolerance for conduct that compromises their safety or wellbeing. ²

The National Principles for Child Safe Organisations set out a nationally consistent approach to promoting a culture of child safety and wellbeing within organisations including sport. ³⁵

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