- Complaints lodged with Sport Integrity Australia
- Include examples of inappropriate and sexual behaviours
- Coaches to be provided with more education
Almost a third of all sport complaints not related to doping that have been taken to the highest level in Australia involve children, with an alarming number involving junior girls.
In the past year, Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) has received a total of 608 non-doping-related reports and complaints, with almost half of them pertaining to misconduct and abuse in Australian sports.
Disturbingly, a significant portion – 35 per cent – revolve around children, with coaches finding themselves at the centre of a third of these misconduct allegations.
Of the coach-related complaints, a majority involve inappropriate use of tone, language, or one-on-one electronic communications, and engaging in social events outside the sport.
Notably, the agency dealt with a severe case involving a coach accused of ‘inappropriate and sexualised behavior’ toward a 17-year-old athlete.
This incident led to multiple serious breaches of the Child Safeguarding Policy, resulting in the coach being barred from the sport.
Sport Integrity Australia chief executive officer David Sharpe wants to see more education for junior coaches across all sports
The SIA investigation revealed that a coach had been accused of ‘inappropriate and sexualised behavior’ towards a 17-year-old athlete
The Federal Government has announced a $36.3million war chest to combat abuse, bullying, discrimination and sexual misconduct in sport
In response to these alarming trends, Federal Sport Minister Anika Wells announced a $36.3 million initiative on Monday, aimed at reinforcing efforts to combat abuse, bullying, discrimination, and sexual misconduct in sports.
This includes developing specific programs targeting women, girls, and First Nations people.
‘I am committed to ensuring the safety of everyone involved in sport in Australia, from playground to podium,’ Wells told News Corp.
You can’t change the culture of sport overnight, but you can have a goal and you can change it over time
Sport Integrity Australia chief executive officer David Sharpe
SIA’s chief executive officer David Sharpe, emphasised the need for education among sports staff and volunteers, particularly when it comes to appropriate behavior around children.
‘This was not attacking coaches, what we identified is we spent years educating athletes, we haven’t spent a lot of time educating coaches and staff,’ he said.
‘You can’t change the culture of sport overnight, but you can have a goal and you can change it over time.’
While progress has been made with over 10,000 coaches completing training, Sharpe acknowledged that there is still a substantial amount of work to be done.
Additionally, the agency will address historic abuse in sports and focus on closing gaps related to online abuse and match-fixing, particularly in the rapidly growing sector of women’s sports.
‘In my view, we haven’t done enough around women’s sports, fast enough,’ Sharpe said.
Sharpe also stressed the need to call out those attacking female athletes online and highlighted the increased risk of illegal gambling and organised crime infiltrating smaller sports or lower-level competitions due to streaming platforms.
The Albanese Government will further support these efforts by creating an advisory committee to address racism in sports and enhancing resources for the Safe Sport Hotline, while providing wellbeing support to athletes and staff.
