Sporting Organisations spotlight their roles in keeping sport safe for children

Safe Sport Day (8th August) presents an opportunity for sporting organisations to reaffirm their commitment to keeping everyone, especially children, safe in sport and to raise awareness that safeguarding children and young people playing sport is a shared responsibility. 

This Safe Sport Day, Sport Integrity Australia and Oceania Football Confederation have shared their roles and commitment to ensuring children have a safe and fair sporting experience.

The day champions the International Safeguards for Children in Sport, which are eight global principles developed by an alliance of more than 140 organisations globally to ensure organisation provide consistent protections to children around the world.

Acting Deputy Chief Executive - Safety in Sport at Sport Integrity Australia and Advisory Board member of the International Safeguarding Children in Sport, Dr Paul Oliver, said protecting children in sport should be a primary objective of all sporting organisations.

Dr Oliver notes "It is every child's right to be safe during sport, and it is everybody's responsibility to protect those children, from sporting organisations to coaches to parents to carers.”

Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has today also reaffirmed its commitment to keeping everyone, especially children, safe in sport.

OFC’s recently appointed safeguarding and wellbeing manager, Palu Uhatahi Tu’amoheloa shares "when it comes to making sure our sport is a safe place for everyone - everyone has a part to play.

“Safeguarding deals with so many factors, including how to prevent abuse, the actions to be taken and how to report if abuse has happened."

SAI's Dr Oliver added "It's important to us here at Sport Integrity Australia that the international principles are more than just theoretical aspirations within sport, but that they are practical tools with which we can help safeguard the future of sport and all those who participate in it.

"Across our organisation we have implemented processes, education tools and resources to guide and support sports to protect the rights of children and young people.

"By doing so, we are helping to ensure sports remain a safe, welcoming environment within our communities, now and into the future.

"We are committed to working towards safe sport for every child and we pledge to promote the safeguards through our networks, embed the safeguards in our work, and support Safe Sport Day."

In June 2023, Sport Integrity Australia launched a Safeguarding in Sport Continuous Improvement Program. At its core, the program aims to embed a culture of child safety and member protection across all levels of sport in Australia.

24 sports have signed up in the past year, with discussions with other sports ongoing. Sixteen of these sports have completed the audit phase which has identified several key themes, such as safeguarding risk management, embedding safeguarding into strategic and integrity plans and recruitment to child-related positions.

Another way Sport Integrity Australia is supporting sports in keeping safe sporting environments is through the implementation of the National Integrity Framework.

Dr Oliver said the framework ensured Australia has a consistent set of policies across all sport adding  "for the first time we have national standards regardless of which sport an athlete participates in. Together, we have drawn a line in the sand to highlight behaviours that have no place in sport and eradicate them.”

More than 80 recognised National Sporting Organisations and National Sporting Organisations for people with Disability have adopted the Framework and its policies.

Sport Integrity Australia works closely with the National Office for Child Safety in the development and implementation of national priorities to protect children and young people from child sexual abuse, and support victims and survivors.

Oceania Football Confederation highlights the opportunity 2024’s Safe Sport Day offers to celebrate the progress that has been made throughout the OFC region, with safeguarding being a particular focus for football in Oceania Football and its member associations over the past few years.

With the FIFA Women’s World Cup being co-hosted in the OFC region last year, there has been a lot of emphasis put on ensuring appropriate safeguarding measures are in play.

OFC pledged in 2021 to commit to improving safeguarding in the Oceania region, and this work has been a key part of the World Cup legacy work. There are channels available for everyone associated with the game to be able to report concerns. Work done to ensure that safeguarding practices are integrated into all aspects of football includes:

• An e-learning module for OFC Coaching

• Safeguarding workshops during elite and pre-elite refereeing courses 

• Awareness-raising materials created for member associations

• OFC competition regulations updated to require Team Safeguarding Welfare Officers (TWSO)

• Member associations are supported to develop safeguarding policies

For more information on Sport Integrity Australia and to access educational resources visit Safeguarding Resources. To access SIA library of eLearning courses head to elearning.sportintegrity.gov.au

The day champions the International Safeguards for Children in Sport 

In June 2023, Sport Integrity Australia launched a Safeguarding in Sport Continuous Improvement Program  

More information on SIA National Integrity Framework. 

Image top. International Safeguards for Children in Sport; image above: Credit:  Oceania Football Confederation