NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2022

Hello friends,

This month Victoria University released stunning research results that showed 82% of Australians experience 1 form of interpersonal violence in sport as a child. Why are these rates so high in sports and not the arts or other options that parents entrust their children to?

"What we're seeing in the data is that we have a cultural normalisation of violence in sport," co-author Dr Woessner said.

"It's systemic, there's not one type of violence or only one type of perpetrator and it's happening across all sports."

What can sports do to decrease this alarming statistic?

Woessner notes it starts at the grassroots: “We need to go from the ground up and work with clubs on initiatives that are long-lasting and can create behavioural change.”

Club Respect is part of this movement of behavioural change at sports clubs, helping clubs to build a culture of respect that can help minimise the abuse and violence happening in sports clubs around the country. 

**

Discrimination has a devastating impact on young sports players. In particular, homophobia in sport has contributed to young sports players staying ‘in the closet’ or dropping out of sport completely. 

Club Respect volunteer Meg Young outlines how clubs can build a culture that respects everyone, including LGBTQIA+ people in 5 ways to build LGBTQIA+ inclusion in clubs. 

Tarik Bayrakli
Manager, Club Respect 

CR JOURNAL

5 ways to build LGBTQIA+ inclusion in clubs | Club Respect

"These steps are about building a culture that respects everyone, including LGBTQIA+ people. A club's focus on inclusion will benefit with celebration and pride. 

For the cynical amongst us, these steps may seem tokenistic, and it’s true that culture change takes time. But I promise you, for a young or closeted queer person, these steps can make all the difference in letting them know they are accepted and supported."

TOP POSTS ON CR SOCIALS

Follow our LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter social media pages and join in the conversations. Our focus at the moment is on the crisis of umpire/referee shortages and the cultural issues that have made it a significant issue for many sports. 

The study is the most comprehensive of its kind in Australia, involving 886 adults, and asking whether they had experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence, as well as neglect, from either coaches, peers or parents during childhood.

▪️ 82% of the adults who were sampled, reported experiencing at least one form of interpersonal violence when participating in community sport as a child.
▪️ 67% had experienced psychological violence or neglect.
▪️ 66% reported physical violence.
▪️ 38% reported sexual violence.

The issue of the reluctance of kids to speak up, often complicated by dysfunctional club processes, makes it almost impossible to gather statistics in real-time. Instead, the survey respondents were adults reflecting on their time in community sport.

Woesnner explains the data collection challenges: "At the moment we have a system that relies on children telling us what happened while knowing that the vast majority of literature says they won't come forward for years to come.”

These statistics would be alarming in a school or workplace yet there’s a sense of ‘well, that’s just the way it is in community sport’ or a belief that abuse and violence leads to resilient humans with no mention of the trauma attached to these experiences.

What can sports do to decrease this alarming statistic?

Woessner notes it starts at the grassroots: “We need to go from the ground up and work with clubs on initiatives that are long-lasting and can create behavioural change.”

"When we're thinking about changing culture, we need to go a step further than just education and policies."

The rates of violence and aggression experienced in community sports every weekend are worse than ever and the report is a huge wake-up call for clubs and associations.

**

If you believe you have experienced violence during your childhood participation in sport, you can lodge a complaint through Sport Integrity Australia's online portal.

🔗 Victoria University study suggests children experience high rates of violence in community sport

When a parent agrees for their child to play at any sports club, professional or grassroots, there is a duty of care that must be met. The terrifying revelations in Eddie Betts' book on the bullying and exploitation of personal information he suffered at the Adelaide Crows is sad on many levels. At a training camp from hell, players were asked to be vulnerable & share experiences and this sharing was then used to abuse the players.

The comments levelled at Betts were disgraceful, disrespectful, culturally incompetent and in this case, has impacted the club's performance and scarred a number of players with mental health issues.

And then to receive a report from the Club Doctor on the incident and not act upon it, is reprehensible behaviour.

Sports clubs must prioritise the personal wellbeing of players above all and remove people from the culture that can't operate on this principle. 

🔗 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-05/afl-apologises-to-eddie-betts-over-controversial-crows-camp/101305104

It’s saddening what some players have to go through to play the game they love. Spanish footballer Adama Traoré has felt the cold sting of exclusion and endured racism including monkey chants. Yet having experienced taunts his whole career, Traoré opened up to the Guardian that respect and empathy are the key weapons to change the situation.

Adama Traoré was born in Spain to Malian parents. He grew up in Hospitalet, one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in Europe and among the relatively few places with a significant immigrant community at the time.

“It’s a reality. Racism is there. There are people who are racist who still promote the idea that the fact that you have a different colour of skin makes you inferior.” Says Traoré.

Still young at 26, he feels that respecting someone, even a racist offender, gives him the opportunity to see their best side, allowing them to demonstrate the qualities that make them great partners, friends, family members and work colleagues.

By modelling respect, Traoré is opening the door for mutual understanding, sharing backgrounds and life stories and showing others following in his footsteps there is a way to not let bitterness sour their careers.

When engaging with respect, at worst, the racist behaviour continues, at best, a person can see beyond Traoré’s skin colour and can admire the qualities that make up his personality.

For Traoré, The ‘kryptonite’ of abuse is respect.

Regarding the hot topic of players not taking the knee for BLM, Traoré feels it’s not a clear-cut issue:

“I don’t think it’s resistance,” Traoré says. “I think it’s a lack of understanding, explanation, culture, empathy. Maybe they don’t reject taking the knee exactly; maybe they don’t know, don’t understand or think it’s nothing to do with them… It’s hard for people who haven’t experienced racism to have empathy. So, you explain, tell stories, things you have seen and heard, suffered.”

In any case, it’s a heavy burden to carry and no wonder many players don’t engage or speak up to racist comments.

Traoré says: ‘I don’t want hate meeting hate’.

Kudos for enduring a lot on his journey and concluding that in respect, education and empathy we might find an answer on how to move forward.

Read the full article 🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/aug/04/adama-traore-the-first-time-you-hear-racist-words-you-cant-believe-it

📷 Jack Thomas

Always heartwarming to see the positive side of taking up the whistle for your community. Great to see Adrian & Georgia - a wonderful father-daughter combination running the lines for the Associated Public Schools of Victoria last weekend.

When referees are respected and allowed to do their job in peace it can be a beautiful thing for personal development and in this case bringing joy to a family.

📷 John Sugunananthan

We respectfully acknowledge the wisdom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their custodianship of the lands and waterways.