Managing Poor Behaviour & Bullying

Bullying

Bullying is repeated deliberate behaviour by one or more people towards someone where there is an intention to cause distress, fear or harm and creates a power imbalance between those doing the bullying and those being bullied.  The following links and resources are provided to help understand bullying, manage and respond to bullying, where to get help for anyone being bullied and how to support someone experiencing bullying.

• What is Bullying?
• Bullying – help for kids
• Bullying – help for Teens
• Bullying – help for Parents
• How to get help for Bullying
• Understanding Bullying – Information & Resources

Cyber Bullying & E-Safety

• • What is Cyber Bullying and what can you do?
  • Reporting Cyber Bullying & what you need to know
  • ThinkUKnow – Resource centre for parents, sport clubs, schools and teachers
  • eSafety – Sports Hub
  • eSafety – for Kids
  • eSafety – for teens & young people
  • eSafety – for Parents

 

To report online bullying:  Report Cyber Bullying to the e-Safety Centre

Poor Behaviour

Inappropriate behaviour in sport is unacceptable.  Players, coaches and team officials are responsible for compliance with the Codes of Conduct, Laws of the Game, and the rules, regulations and policies of the club, association, FNSW and Football Australia. Breaches can result in being charged and appearing before a Disciplinary Tribunal.

Clubs are responsible for managing the behaviour of their players, team officials and spectators.

Complaints about Coaches

Clubs are responsible for managing complaints and taking any necessary management or disciplinary action in relation to their team officials, club officials, employees and volunteers.

When managing a complaint, clubs should consider appropriate steps, including the following depending on the behaviour:

• Speaking with the coach about their behaviour
• Monitoring the coach to observe the reported behaviour
• Mentoring the coach on how to improve his/her behaviour
• Mediation between the aggrieved parties
• Requiring the coach to complete relevant Play By The Rules or Sport Integrity Australia on-line training
• Requiring the coach to complete an accredited coaching course or other form of further education
• Issue of a written warning to the coach about their behaviour
• Taking disciplinary action
• Applying a sanction
• Suspending the coach from their duties for a period of time
• A combination of the above, or
• Dismissing the coach, or
• Reporting the behaviour to Police if serious.

Any action taken is the decision of the club or association or relevant tribunal.  The complainant does not determine how their complaint is managed, or what action, sanction, suspension or dismissal is applied.

Where a coach or other team official identifies that a misunderstanding may have occurred or that their behaviour was not acceptable, it can be beneficial to acknowledge this and offer an apology directly to those effected, as this can help resolve matters in some circumstances, and may even result in resolution for all involved.

Common Issues

Photography & Videoing in Football

In Australia, generally speaking, there is no law restricting photography of people (including children) in public spaces as long as the images are not:

• indecent
• being used for voyeurism or made for the purpose of observing and visually recording a person’s genital or anal region
• protected by a court order (eg. child custody or witness protection)
• defamatory
• being for commercial purposes (person’s likeness is used to endorse or entice people to buy a product)

Further information:

• Taking images or Video of Children in Sport
• Staying Safe Online in Sport
• E-Safety Commission Information for Parents

Insufficient Game Time

Insufficient game time is not a member protection issue. It is a decision for the coach of a team to determine how much game time players receive. Some clubs have policies relating to amateur football game time and this can be clarified by contacting your club to find out if they have a game time policy.

Football is a team sport and time on the bench is part of playing football and being in a football team. The strategies used by coaches are many and varied in their efforts to try and provide players with fair game time.  Equal game time is not always possible particularly where the games are closely contested and where player fitness, endurance, ability and team cohesion are factors in player selection, rotation and positioning.  Any concerns relating to game time should be raised with the coach or club.

Non-selection in team

Non-selection is not a member protection issue. The selection of players for a team is a decision for selectors. Players are generally selected based on various factors including skill, stamina, fitness, strength, positive attitude, team cohesion, commitment and a willingness and ability to listen, learn and improve.  A good behaviour record and compliance with the Codes of conduct, Laws of the Game and relevant policies, both on and off the field are also important.

Our team is not winning

A study on children’s sport found that the top 3 reasons children play amateur sport were to make friends, to have fun and to play the game.

Winning is not always a priority for children and just playing with their friends, having fun and kicking the ball is often what they base their good experience on. Parents should support their children and encourage good sportsmanship no matter their priorities or outcome of the game – win, lose or draw, the experience should always be a positive one.

Sport is great for children’s fitness and well-being and is often the only outlet for children away from the pressures of school, social and family issues, and life in general, so it is important that children are allowed the freedom to enjoy their football, make friends and have a good experience.

My child is not being played in the position they prefer

The position that a child plays in or is allocated to is a decision for the coach of the team. Although a child may play in a certain position when they join the club or trial for a club, there is no guarantee that this is the position the child will play in at the club. While clubs and coaches like to try and keep everyone happy, it is not always possible to play children where they want or prefer to play at any level and in developing children it is common for coaches to play children in a variety of different positions.

Failure to release a player from a contract or de-register a player

These are not member protection issues and are matters for resolution between the club and the player or parents involved.

Refund Requests

This is not a member protection issue and is a matter between the player (or player’s parents if U18) and the club.

Before requesting a refund it is important to check the club refund policy, player contract or player information or contact the club Secretary for information.

Note: Some fee components may be non-refundable such as capitation fees, insurance and Government subsidies (vouchers).

Making Sport Safer with Jacketed Ground Officials

In most competitions it is a requirement for clubs to appoint ground officials for every game day and for each team (both home and away) to prevent and deal with any incidents that may arise involving poor behaviour. The title of the ground official will vary depending on each club and association and may often be referred to as Ground Official, Ground Marshal or Jacketed Official.

Clubs and Associations can best prepare their ground officials by:

• Providing ground officials with information about their role
• Ensuring ground officials stand out on game day by providing them with a high visibility vest or jacket.
• Providing training – ground officials need the skills and confidence to deal with difficult situations. Have your ground official complete appropriate training at Play By The Rules
• Establishing a reporting system – put in place an incident reporting system for ground officials to use.
• Ground marshal’s should be familiar with steps to help resolve conflict and deal with issues quickly and appropriately.

Resources

• Managing conflict in Sport resolution toolkit

Respect Referees

Match officials are critical to the sport of football and without them there would be no game. Players, team officials parents and spectators should treat them with respect and recognize that they too are often learning, and just like players, can only improve with more training and experience.