Community sport volunteers need better support to keep children safe from abuse - new research

Child abuse in Australian sport can happen to anyone, in any sport, at any level – during practice, in competition and online. At community level, volunteers play an essential role. But some are not able to recognise when a child is in danger, and many don’t know how to respond when a young person tries to speak up. Our just-published research found many volunteers had minimal confidence and organisational support, and points to the need for urgent reforms. What parents and youth athletes can do to protect against abuse in sport

Abuse at the top levels In recent years, several reports of abuse in elite sport have captured national media attention in Australia. In 2021, an independent review into Gymnastics Australia found evidence of bullying, harassment, abuse, neglect, racism, sexism and ableism. A 2022 investigation into Australian swimming was sparked by Maddie Groves quitting the Tokyo Olympic trials after saying she was sexually abused as a teenager by a man who was still working in the sport. In 2024, Sports Integrity Australia reviewed the volleyball program at the Australian Institute of Sport and revealed systemic verbal and physical abuse of athletes, excessive punishments, body shaming, and forced isolation from family or friends. These high-profile issues unfolded at the top levels of Australian sport. The picture at community levels is just as confronting.

Our previous research sparked questions In 2022, we researched what was happening in community sports. We found more than 80% of Australian adults surveyed had experienced at least one type of abuse (psychological, physical, sexual) when playing youth community sport in Australia. Most never disclosed those experiences to an adult because they feared they would not be believed or would be removed from sport. Australia’s huge volunteer workforce – about three million people – includes coaches, team managers, committee members and canteen workers, among others. In youth sport, it is overwhelmingly made up of parents whose children play sport. Despite the essential role volunteers play, we know very little about whether they feel prepared, confident, or supported to act when a child discloses abuse. These realities made us ask a simple but important question: how prepared are these volunteers to notice when a child is being harmed and to respond when a young person tries to speak up? What we found in our national survey We surveyed more than 200 volunteers across 50 different sports nationally, examining their knowledge, confidence, beliefs and support to recognise and respond to disclosures of child abuse. While most were highly motivated to respond to child abuse in sport, only half said their club made it clear that responding was part of their role. One respondent shared: In the 12-odd years of active coaching and refereeing, I have never had a face-to-face or group induction to the child reporting responsibilities I have in my sport roles. One in five volunteers feared repercussions from their club if they raised concerns of child abuse and fewer than 40% believed current reporting systems were effective. One volunteer shared a poignant example: Last season, a coach made the entire team walk across a player’s back as a punishment. I spoke up. My child was then not selected … (the) coach was not stood down. One in five volunteers also held damaging assumptions including the belief that children lie about abuse, despite evidence it is extremely rare. Finally, 7.8% of respondents said there had been a time they suspected child abuse in sport but did not report it.

The issues were consistent across sports, highlighting a sector-wide challenge rather than isolated problems in individual clubs. These issues existed despite the fact 65% of the respondents had undergone some form of child safeguarding training within the past 12 months. While it’s easy to assume this is simply a training or policy gap, the reality is child safeguarding in sport cannot fall solely on the shoulders of volunteers.
So what can be done? Insights from those who have experienced abuse After the survey closed, our team established a committee of seven people who had experienced abuse in sport to co-develop reflections and recommendations. In their initial response to the survey findings, the committee members collectively stated: Overall, we’re surprised, frustrated and disappointed about the lack of progress on child safeguarding practices in sport, in light of the learnings from the 2017 Royal Commission on Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse. Working with the committee members and a small cohort of community sport volunteers, we developed some priority actions for the sport sector as a whole, clubs, and volunteers. The sport sector needs to strengthen safeguarding through targeted initiatives (education/public campaigns) that support volunteers to recognise and respond to all forms of abuse and challenge harmful myths. These must be underpinned by trauma-informed practices. Volunteers are encouraged to take a few simple but powerful actions such as normalising conversations with kids and their parents about the club’s practices, and emailing club members about relevant child safeguarding policies. Independent community sport platform Play by the Rules has some great templates and resources for volunteers, while we have also developed a resource to help sports organisations apply trauma-informed principles. More is needed These findings align with national efforts such as the Australian Sports Commission’s Play Well strategy and the Sport Volunteer Coalition Action Plan which aim to build capability, transform culture and strengthen systems that ensure safe, inclusive sport. Our research indicates achieving this relies not only on volunteers being trained and supported to act when they see harm or hear a disclosure, but also on strong system and leadership-level commitment to create environments where safe responses are enabled, reinforced and prioritised.

Mary Woessner receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Movember and the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse (funder for lived experience co-development phase of the current work). Alexandra Parker receives funding from the National Centre for Action Against Child Sexual Abuse. Aurélie Pankowiak receives research funding from VicHealth (ECR Fellowship 2023-26) and the National Centre for Action Against Child Sexual Abuse. She is a member of The Athletes Network for Safer Sports, The Sport & Rights Alliance.
Fiona McLachlan has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Victorian State Government, and Football Victoria for research on gender equity in sport, and the prevention of gender-based violence.