When Interests Collide: Managing Conflicts of Interest
Volunteers are the backbone of community sport. They contribute countless hours to coaching teams, managing clubs, serving on committees, officiating competitions and supporting participants of all ages.
People often volunteer in multiple roles at sporting clubs, and they can be crucial to ensure everyone has opportunities to play or compete. Volunteers often hold strong connections to families, local businesses, social circles and to other relationships that can make conflicts of interests common, especially in community sport.
If conflicts of interest are not identified and managed appropriately, they can damage the trust, perceived commitment to fairness and the reputation of a club. It can also result in unsafe or disrespectful behaviours not being addressed.
What is Conflict of Interest?
A conflict of interest occurs when a person's personal interests, relationships, loyalties or financial interests could influence, or appear to influence, their ability to make fair and impartial decisions on behalf of a sporting organisation and its members.
Conflicts of interest can be actual, potential or perceived. That is, someone’s self interest does, could, or may be seen to unfairly interfere with their role and responsibility at the club.
Some examples include:
- A coach sits on a selection committee for a representative team for which their child is a candidate.
- A committee member is asked to mediate in a dispute between two parties, one of whom is a close work colleague.
- A board member sits on the selection panel for a business contract for which a close friend has applied.
Conflicts of interest do not always suggest or involve wrongdoing. In small well-connected clubs and communities, it may not always be possible to avoid conflicts of interest. Whatever the situation, they need to be appropriately managed.
The key is to recognise and address conflicts of interest early and consistently implement strategies to manage them.
Strategies to manage conflicts of interest
Guiding Principles
Establishing some clear guiding principles can help clubs manage conflicts of interest. The principles can include:
- Integrity: always acting in the best interests of the people and the club or sport.
- Transparency: declaring and documenting conflicts early and clearly.
- Fairness: avoiding situations where bias or impartiality (real or perceived) might arise.
- Confidentiality: handling information sensitively.
- Accountability: following procedures and seek advice if unsure.
Governance-based strategies
Every club should include guidelines for identifying and managing potential conflicts of interest. Some sport’s policies may also provide guidance around what to do when a conflict of interest arises.
The codes or policies should clearly outline what conflicts of interest are and why and how they need to be managed. Some strategies might include:
- Incorporating into the Club’s Code of Conduct or Code of Behaviour a requirement that all club administrators, officials and volunteers disclose any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest.
- Putting clear systems in place that avoid conflicts of interest that can commonly occur in community clubs (e.g. establishing an impartial team selection panel who follow clear and agreed processes).
- Determining the actions to manage conflicts of interest when one is identified (e.g. an MPIO will defer to another MPIO within the club or the sport, in the event they have a conflict of interest).
- Ensuring discussions and actions about conflicts of interest occur regularly and are clearly documented. This could be in a conflict of interest register, or in committee meeting minutes.
- Ensuring any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest are assessed and managed appropriately (e.g. for governance around resolving complaints, appointing people to roles, appointing sponsors, approving spending plans, team selections).
Individual Strategies
Individuals are responsible for identifying and appropriately acting upon their conflicts of interest. They need to be open, honest and ensure they operate in an ethical manner within the responsibilities of their role. Some key actions individuals should make are:
- Detecting early
Recognise situations where your impartiality could be questioned. Ask yourself:
• Do I have a personal connection to anyone involved?
• Would others see my involvement as biased?
• Would I feel comfortable explaining this situation to someone else?
If you’re unsure you have a conflict of interest or not, declare it.
- Disclosing
As soon as you identify a possible conflict of interest, let it be known. Speak to a committee member, integrity manager, state-coordinator or other appropriate senior people in your club or sport. Be open and honest about the situation and record the disclosure so it can be easily referred to. Transparency is key to maintaining trust
- Deciding
Collectively decide how to manage the conflict. You could consider:
- Removing yourself from the situation entirely if there are other people who can handle it.
- Continuing to be engaged, with full transparency, but remove yourself from discussions and/or decisions where a conflict may exist.
- Where there are no other options to step aside or remove yourself, ensuring you follow proper procedure and policy. Document your actions taken.
- Documenting
Keep a record of what was discussed, agreed and with whom, even if the decision is that no further action is needed. This shows accountability, provides clarity and supports you if questions arise later.
Quick tips
- Be alert to connections that might affect your judgement.
- When in doubt, declare and discuss - don’t try to manage it quietly.
- Document every step – even informal notes count.
- Keep fairness, safety, and respect at the heart of everything you do.
Volunteers play a critical role in creating safe, fair and inclusive sporting environments. Recognising and managing conflicts of interest is an important part of good governance and ethical responsibility. and helps ensure decisions are always made in the best interests of the members, the club and the sport.