Articles

Safe Celebrations

Everybody loves a club function. They’re a great chance to celebrate the club, get together with teammates and build comradery and team morale. The best celebrations are events where everyone feels safe and involved.

PaRANTING from the sidelines

If you have a child who plays sport then aim to train yourself, from the very first blow of the very first whistle, to offer encouragement and encouragement only from the sideline. Learn early how to bite your tongue when you feel you would like to add anything more than this to the game.

Let Kids Be Kids

Parents all want their children to shine on the sports field. Yet there’s nothing that will dull a child’s sparkle more than having parents and spectators pressure them from the sidelines.

Governance is just a word for doing business better

Governance is just a fancy word for doing the business of your sport’s board or committee better. But good governance is essential to keeping your club or organisation safe, fair and inclusive. These 10 tips are written to help you and your board/committee do the job you were elected to do as well as you possibly can.

It's not what sport children play, but how they play it that matters

Sport is massive and it’s everywhere: on TV, in videogames, and on the streets. As a consequence, myths about the inherent greatness of sport have grown. One such myth is the belief that sport itself is ideally suited to help disadvantaged young people.

The rise of emotional abuse in children's sport

Emotional abuse is the most common form of injury in children’s sport. It largely goes unseen but can have profound and long-term effects, not just on the sports field.

7 ways how yelling at officials is hurting children

In March the community website from the USA, Switching the Field, published an interesting article that resonated with over 17,000 people on the Play by the Rules Facebook page. Switching the Field describes themselves as “humble members of the greater soccer community doing our part to help the game.”

Why adults behave like kids at kids sport

Clyde Rathbone explores why adults often behave poorly at kids sporting events. Is the answer at the juncture of misguided values and insecurity? 

A male feminist view on women's sport

Today is International Women’s Day. I thought it important that Play by the Rules runs a feature on the day to highlight the great progress made in recent times in women’s sport. After all, Play by the Rules is all about inclusion and there’s a lot to celebrate.