Participation in sport and recreation - particularly at the school and community level - should be fun, safe and fair. The issue of sport rage is of growing concern to all involved in sport and recreation. Sport rage can come in many forms: an unruly parent abusing a referee, a player punching another player or a spectator shouting racial taunts. Dealing with sport rage is a major challenge for clubs. Not only does it reflect badly on the sport, it can deter participation at all levels.

Several initiatives have been developed to deal with sport rage. A summary of these initiatives is provide below.

New South Wales - Sport Rage: A Guide For Administrators

A new web page created by NSW Sport and Recreation gives clear guidelines and easy-to-use tools for club administrators to help control sport rage.

The site includes guidelines on raising awareness, how to deal with incidents, codes of conduct, disciplinary procedures, free posters, prevention kits and more.

For information and material, go to www.dsr.nsw.gov.au/sportrage/

Australian Capital Territory - Good Sports Territory Program

The ACT Good Sports Territory program promotes the positive values and behaviours expected in sport. This program aims to:

• inform and educate the public to the importance of positive values and expected behaviours in sport
• support ACT sporting organisations and clubs to implement strategies that deal with inappropriate behaviour at sporting activities
• recognise and reward individuals, teams, clubs and organisations that practice and display good sporting behaviour.

The Good Sports Territory program was developed from the Australian Sports Commission's pilot program 'Good Sport Monitor.' It includes a number of strategies to promote good behaviour in sport:

• Adoption of a Member Protection Policy
• Stakeholder contracts
• Yellow cards
• Silent Sunday
• Appointment of Assistant Coaches
• Parent and Coach awards for good behaviour.

For more information go to www.sport.act.gov.au/development/projects/goodsports.html or ring Sport and Recreation ACT on 02 6207 2077

South Australia - Sport Rage Pilot Program

The South Australian Office for Recreation and Sport is undertaking a pilot program on sport rage following their 'No To Sports Rage' seminar held in April 2005.

For more information on this program go to www.recsport.sa.gov.au/training-development/sport-ethics-sport-rage.html or contact:

Senior Project Officer - Coaching and Officiating Development
Office for Recreation and Sport
Tel: 08 8416 6677

South Australia - Coloured Shirts Program

The South Australian Office of Recreation and Sport - in partnership with the South Australian National Football League, Basketball Association of SA, Netball SA, and South Australian Rugby League, South Australian Rugby Union and Hockey SA - is implementing the Coloured Shirts Program. In this program umpires wear a coloured shirt to denote that they are learner umpires and that players, coaches and spectators should be tolerant and respectful toward this increasingly dwindling resource. The Coloured Shirts have Play by the Rules and the website address across the back of the shirts, to reinforce the message that sport should be fun, safe and fair.

For more information about this program contact:

Senior Project Officer - Coaching & Officiating Development
Office for Recreation and Sport
Tel: 08 8416 6677

Western Australia and Northern Territory - Respect The Official Program

The Western Australian Department of Sport and Recreation and Northern Territory Office of Recreation and Sport have developed 'Respect The Official' programs. This that include handing out wallet-sized cards to remind spectators, players and coaches of the important job that officials play.

Western Australia and the Northern Territory's programs were supported by Whiz Fizz and Chupa Chup, respectively. Lollypops were given out with cards saying either "So next time you are tempted to give the ump a mouthful - think again" or "Instead of giving the ump a mouthful give yourself one and have a Chupa Chup."

While this campaign has now finished in the Northern Territory, details of the new campaign are available from the Northern Territory Office for Sport and Recreation Ethics Co-ordinator, 08 8982 2338.

Western Australia - Harassment of Officials Information Sheets and Other Resources

The Western Australian Department of Sport and Recreation has developed some useful information sheets:

• `Harassment of Sports Officials' gives useful facts and statistics on the incidence of harassment of officials.
• `How to Address Harassment of Sports Officials' has tips on how to reduce harassment of officials in your sport.

For more information on the Western Australian Department of Sport and Recreation initiatives, contact info@dsr.wa.gov.au. or download the 'Harassment of Sport Officials' and 'How To Address Harassment of Sports Officials' information sheets.

The Western Australian Department of Sport and Recreation has also developed other resources to encourage positive behaviours at sporting competitions:

• The Keep it Fun kit helps organisations promote good sporting behaviour among parents. It includes strategies for clubs and other organisations to encourage positive parent behaviour and create a safe and fun environment for children to participate in sport (www.dsr.wa.gov.au/programs/sportsfun/youth.asp).
• Official's Promotional Wallet Cards, containing key messages about the value of officials, remind parents, coaches, players and others involved in school sport that the abuse of officials is not acceptable.
• The Relax, it's just a game poster encourages positive behaviours from all involved in youth sports.

Victoria - User-friendly Sport - An ideas book to help sport and recreation clubs grow

The Victorian Department of Sport and Recreation have developed a practical guide to help clubs attract and retain members. The guide draws on the experience of clubs and includes a model code of conduct for parents, players, spectators and coaches, with tips on how to prevent unsporting behaviour.

The guide can be downloaded from www.sport.vic.gov.au/web9/srvimages.nsf/Images/UserFriendlySport/$File/UserFriendlySport.pdf

For a summary of initiatives developed to promote positive behaviours, attitudes and cultures within their sport, go to the Australian Sports Commission Positive Behaviours page at www.ausport.gov.au/ethics/positivebehave.asp

Where to next>> Responding to complaints or incidents of concern