Body shaming, verbal abuse and racism are biggest issues in sport, integrity agency says

3 months ago 19

Body-shaming, verbal abuse and racism are the most common concerning behaviours witnessed by coaches and athletes across the country, according to research published by Sport Integrity Australia on Tuesday.

Those issues were the most troubling results from a survey of 1204 athletes and coaches across 64 sports at local, state and national representative level, in which the vast majority of respondents (88 per cent of athletes and 87 per cent of coaches) said they believed sport was safe and fair.

Sport Integrity Australia have published the first of a five-year research project into behaviour in sport.

Sport Integrity Australia’s acting head of sport engagement, Lex Cooper, said the mostly positive responses from were welcomed by the agency, but also enabled them to identify several persisting issues.

“That almost 90 per cent picture is really heartening, but I think we all have to be conscious that the reality is it’s not the case for everyone and there are some findings in there that need to be addressed,” Cooper said on Tuesday.

When asked to identify whether certain behaviours were more likely to lead to inappropriate relationships between coaches and athletes, Cooper said there were gaps in the knowledge of those surveyed.

Less than half (42 per cent) of athletes believed sharing a twin room with a coach on an interstate trip was an extreme or considerable risk, whereas 64 per cent believed telling jokes about sex in a group setting which included a young athlete could amount to inappropriate behaviour.

More than half (62 per cent) of coaches agreed that driving a teenaged athlete home without parental permission was risky. Only 13 per cent listed giving a gift to an athlete for a personal or sporting achievement could be a considerable risk of inappropriate behaviour.

Aside from identifying a need for greater education for coaches on professional boundaries, the agency found body-shaming, verbal abuse and racism were the most common poor behaviours witnessed. Coaches identified parents as the most common perpetrator of verbal abuse.

Athletes from culturally diverse backgrounds were less likely (44 per cent compared to a 27 per cent average for other athletes) to report abuse for fear of not being taken seriously, while high-level athletes were more likely to have report feeling humiliated, threatened or frightened by a coach, than athletes at other levels.

While fewer participants listed witnessing or experiences of inappropriate sexual behaviour, athletes identified other athletes as the most common perpetrator of inappropriate sexual behaviour, while coaches identified sports administrators as being primarily responsible.

Cooper said the agency will use the issues identified to develop their education programs while their next survey will target parents and administrators.