Is sport more safe, fair and inclusive than it used to be?

Sport has a unique place in our culture and brings out the best and worst in people. Peter Downs explains how the national program Play by the Rules helps making sport more safe, fair and inclusive.

It was Nelson Mandela that said “sport has the power to change the world, it has the power to unite people in the way that little else does”.  As the manager of Play by the Rules I am fortunate enough to come across many examples of what Mr Mandela was talking about.

There’s the local football club that recently went out of their way to embrace new migrants into their club. There’s the story of 91 year old Harriette Thompson who has become a sensation after she ran her way into the record books at the San Diego marathon. There’s the recent commitment of the major football codes and Cricket Australia to stamp out homophobia in sport through an Anti-homophobia and Inclusion Policy.

There’s no doubt about it, sport has a unique place in our culture and presents, on a regular basis, tremendous opportunities for positive change. While acknowledging that the ‘good’ far outweighs the ‘bad’ of sport, sometimes sport can bring out the worst in people.

Play by the Rules is an established national program that promotes safe, fair and inclusive sport. It’s a collective impact model supported by the Australian Sports Commission, the Human Rights Commission, all state and territory departments of sport and recreation and equal opportunity commissions, the Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association and the Office of Children’s Guardian.

The Play by the Rules inbox is an interesting place. Generally, you hear more about the negatives than you do about the positives. Perhaps that has to do with human nature! People ask me what the contemporary issues around safe, fair and inclusive are. They ask me about match fixing, supplement use and illegal gambling. Sure, these are emerging and important issues threatening the integrity of sport. But these are not the issues that appear in the Play by the Rules inbox.

I hear about parental behavior. I hear about complaint handling. I hear about selection issues and unfair treatment. There is bullying, discrimination issues, risk management and child protection concerns. These are not new. They were issues 20 years ago and they are issues today.

So, are we making progress in tackling the ongoing negative issues that impact on safe, fair and inclusive sport? It’s a difficult question but a recent Play by the Rules evaluation project perhaps gives us some insights.

Of 692 people surveyed at the grass roots of sport and follow up focus groups with a further 62 people, the majority either agreed or strongly agreed that Play by the Rules had increased their understanding of having a safe, fair and inclusive sport environment. There was greater confidence to discuss or implement strategies to make sport more safe, fair and inclusive and, most importantly, it was reported that Play by the Rules had increased the capacity of engaged organisations and individuals to ensure their environments are safe, fair and inclusive.

I am sure that I will continue to hear about negative issues in sport and I am quite happy about that! If I hear about them it means that people are recognizing and searching for solutions rather than avoiding situations. In addition to the evidence provided through the Play by the Rules evaluation I get the feeling through the numerous activities of Play by the Rules that there is a growing understanding and awareness of how to deal with issues at the grass roots level. People are familiar with codes of behaviour, member protection policies, complaint handling procedures and unfair discrimination. There are over 1500 people per month undertaking Play by the Rules online courses in child protection, complaint handling and harassment and discrimination.

These are good signs. For a full copy of the evaluation report and more information about Play by the Rules go to http://www.playbytherules.net.au/ or email manager@playbytherules.net.au