THE STATE OF PLAY | NEWSLETTER # 28

Hello friends,

As winter sports warm into their new season, clubs are desperately hoping it's not their turn to have an ugly parent incident.

Nothing good comes from these nasty incidents, they cause harm to the parents and kids involved, and to the club. It will stretch a committees patience as they go through the confronting experience of mediation to resolution. 

A question I've been asking myself recently is: who is ultimately responsible for removing a person who relentlessly abuses from the sidelines week-in, week-out?

I grapple with this question in the article: Squeezing out bad behaviour from the sidelines. Community sport is such an important feature in people's lives and protecting the games we love requires all of us to pitch in. 

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Our Sport at the Crossroads series continues to dive deeper into the responses from sports codes on the abuse of match officials.

This month, in Part 8 of the series, Patrick Skene looks into Softball's culture of umpire respect - a sport that usually flies under the radar in Australia and has it's own unique challenges. 

Tarik Bayrakli
Manager, Club Respect

CR JOURNAL

Squeezing out bad behaviour from the sidelines
By Tarik Bayrakli | Manager, Club Respect

"Without clear boundaries and communication on these issues, the abusive parents are likely to go unchallenged and double-down into their rhetoric that the umpire is a “white-maggot”, that they need to “check their eyesight”, surely they’re “taking bribes”, they’re too easily swayed by the opposition teams nagging or just simply “crap” at their job. 

Sadly, this abuse and demeanour doesn’t differentiate between a fully professional umpire or a volunteer filling in for your kids Sunday game."

 'SPORT AT THE CROSSROADS' SERIES

Part 8: Softball's culture of umpire respect
By Patrick Skene

Here's the latest edition to the 'Sport at the crossroads' series, where we explore the way different sports codes and associations are tackling the abuse of officials.

In Part 8, the spirit of softball is alive and well, led by umpires like Kerry Franklin, Kyira Cox and Kevin Tannebring whose positive values, respect and professionalism have created a respectful sport that others can learn from.

"However, a significant concern is the shortage of high-level umpires, particularly those transitioning from playing to umpiring. “You don't get enough players finishing playing and then coming and umpiring. It's hard to draw them in,” he notes, highlighting a gap that affects the quality and availability of experienced umpires."

GUEST SPEAKING

2024 True Sport Conference | SportWest

We’re honoured to be partnering with True Sport on their Sideline Behaviour initiative and look forward to speaking at this conference. Great opportunity for the W.A. sports community to collaborate.

Manager of Club Respect, Tarik Bayrakli (far left in the image), is keen share insights and connect with people from sports clubs who are passionate about building a culture of respect. 

Date: Tuesday 11 June 2024
Location: Optus Stadium, Perth

CLUB RESPECT PODCAST: SMART PLAYS

We're honoured to have each and every one of our guests contributing to our podcast, Smart Plays and excitedly preparing to release new episodes in June.

In the meantime you can check out our previous episodes. 

🎙️ Search "Club Respect Smart Plays" on your favourite podcast player or go to the Club Respect website to listen! 

CLUB DEVELOPMENT & KNOWLEDGE

Online safety for sporting organisations | eSafety Commissioner

People are online everyday as part of sport. Sport members regularly use technology such as team apps, groups chats, social media to engage and communicate.  

Just like poor conduct and abuse can occur in-person at sport, it can happen online too. Sport administrators and leaders have a role to play in preventing and responding to online issues.

This one-hour presentation by eSafety is designed for community sport clubs. It will provide tips and guidance on:

• types of online harm in sport
• how to deal with online harm
• tips for creating a safe online environment at your club
• eSafety’s reporting schemes
• advice on common online issues 
• resources to help clubs.

Date: 29 May 2024 and 5 June 2024
Location: Online

Survey: Examining adult athletes' experiences of interpersonal violence in sport | La Trobe University

La Trobe University, in partnership with eight other universities from across the globe, are seeking adults to be a part of a research project funded by the International Olympic Committee.

The project aims to see if there's a link between how someone is coached and their experience of violence in sport, and if it predicts their current mental wellbeing.

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