Childhood sport participation is associated with physical, social, and mental health benefits, which are more likely to be realized if the sport environment is safe. However, our understanding of ...children’s experience of psychological, physical, and sexual violence in community sport in Australia is limited. The aims of this study were to provide preliminary evidence on the extent of experiences of violence during childhood participation in Australian community sport and to identify common perpetrators of and risk factors for violence. The Violence Towards Athletes Questionnaire (VTAQ) was administered online to a convenience sample of Australian adults (>18 years), retrospectively reporting experiences of violence during childhood community sport. Frequencies of experience of violence were calculated and Chi-square tests were conducted to determine differences between genders. In total, there were 886 respondents included in the analysis. Most survey respondents were women (63%) and about a third were men (35%). About 82% of respondents experienced violence in sport as a child. Psychological violence was most prevalent (76%), followed by physical (66%) and sexual (38%) violence. Peers perpetrated the highest rates of psychological violence (69%), and the rates of physical and psychological violence by coaches (both >50%) were also high. Age, sexual orientation, disability, and hours of weekly sport participation as a child were all associated with childhood experience of violence in sport. The rates of interpersonal violence against children in sport were high. This novel data on perpetrators of the violence and the risk factors for experiencing violence provides further context to inform safeguarding strategies in sport. A national prevalence study is recommended to advance our understanding of the childhood experiences of violence in Australian sport.
English state systems to manage supporters, organisers of sports events and third parties at sporting events - measures implemented by clubs and the league - influence of English system in other ...countries as model of good practice - summary of situation in Australia.
A challenge in safeguarding children from interpersonal violence (IV) in sport is the reliance on self-disclosures and a limited understanding of the frequency, barriers to and process of disclosures ...of IV. Through a mixed-methods design, combining survey and interviews, we explored the frequencies of childhood disclosures of experiences of IV in Australian community sport as well as who children disclosed to and how the interaction unfolded. Those who experienced peer violence disclosed at the highest frequency (35%), followed by coach (27%) or parent (13%) perpetrated IV. A parent/carer was most often the adult that the child disclosed to. Interviews highlighted how the normalisation of violence influenced all aspects of the disclosure and elements of stress buffering (normalising or rationalising) particularly underpinned the disclosure interaction. Policies and practices should explicitly identify all forms of IV in sport as prohibited conduct; education and intervention initiatives should target parents as first responders to disclosures.
In research, various reasons have been proposed to be able to understand the occurrence of sexual violence in sport. This article examines the relationships between conformity to the sport ethic ...norms and sexual violence among young athletes, according to sex and type of sport (individual and team). Athletes (n = 1140) from Quebec, Canada aged 13-18 years responded to an online questionnaire, which included two validated tools: a measure of conformity to the sport ethic norms (i.e. striving for distinction, self-sacrifice and refusing to accept limits) and a measure of experiences of sexual violence (i.e. by team-mates and coaches). Relationships between variables were examined using logistic regression analysis. The results show that increasing conformity to the striving for distinction norm contributes to an increase in the probability of being a victim of sexual violence from team-mates. Conformity to this norm is also associated with sexual violence by the coach, depending on the type of sport. Finally, increasing conformity to the norm of self-sacrifice increases the likelihood of experiencing sexual violence from the coach in an individual sport. These results may lead to the establishment of collective actions to influence conformity to the sport ethic norms and may pave the way for other studies to examine the factors influencing sexual violence since the phenomenon is multifactorial and little of the variance is explained by sport ethic.
Violence amongst spectators of sporting events has a long history. Beginning in the 1960s and originating in England, a new type of organised, group violence began to be experienced, particularly ...amongst football spectators. This ‘hooliganism’ led to such infamous incidents as the 1985 Heysel disaster in Belgium, in which 39 spectators died as a consequence of violence between fans of English and Italian football clubs. Hooliganism led to a series of regulatory responses in England, including various legislative initiatives. This article analyses those regulatory responses, which have collectively become known as the English model for tackling hooliganism. It notes the apparent overall domestic success of these regulatory initiatives, while observing some analytical gaps that make definitive conclusions difficult. The influence of the English system abroad and its use in other countries as a model of good practice - in particular France, Belgium, Italy, Germany and Switzerland - is then critically examined. This article concludes with a summary of the situation in a non-European nation, Australia.
In this paper, considering the practice of whipping students with belts, when grading, I argue that the most obvious objections, considering the harm involved or questioning the validity of the ...consent, are inconclusive. However, I argue that, even if we assume the consent is valid, the practice can still be shown to be problematic. This argument relies on the idea of conditional consent.
Over the past two decades there has been a growing awareness that sport may not be a positive experience for all children. For example, we know that some children experience sexual abuse in the ...context of organised sport, and that these offences are often committed by trusted adults, including coaches and club officials. However, less attention has been given to the physical abuse of child athletes. This paper presents a study that explored children's experiences of organised sport, as recounted by young people between the ages of 18 and 25 years in Australia. The study explored the experience of child physical abuse in organised sport including violence, overtraining, and training while injured. A mixed methods research design produced 107 survey responses and 10 in-depth interviews with young adults. Most respondents reported the positive impact that participating in sport had had on their development, but more than a third of the respondents also described experiences of overtraining, being forced to train when injured or of direct physical violence. Drawing upon a thematic analysis of the qualitative data, a conceptual model has been developed and is presented to assist in the understanding of the dynamic of secrecy, which may facilitate ongoing physical harm to children in this context.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) - Fertitta brothers - dispute resolution clause in contract will be resolved by a 'sport jiu-jitsu' with UFC president as referee - suitability for other sports - ...historical examples of physical force resolving disputes - society's acceptance of levels of violence in sport - mixed martial arts (MMA).
Women who have been raped continue to struggle to prove their claims when they come before the law - despite the many claims that women have made against footballers, few cases have been brought to ...trial - the current problem is not just the issue of sexual violence but a problem of "symbolization" - symbolic organisation of sport and sexual difference extinguishes the possibility of women testifying to rape against sportsmen.
This paper examines sanctioned and unsanctioned aggression and violence in sport. It focuses on a recent notorious violent incident in a National Hockey League (NHL) game between the Vancouver ...Canucks and the Colorado Avalanche. The incident involved Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi and Colorado's Steve Moore. Bertuzzi was the aggressor, and Moore suffered a fracture to the C3 and C4 vertebrae at the base of his neck, a concussion, and various cuts to his face. Bertuzzi was suspended, fined, and faced a criminal trial and possible jail sentence. The Bertuzzi–Moore incident is examined in detail and attempts to clarify why, even in a sport where “fist-fighting” is considered to be part of the game by players, coaches, and officials, this particular act crossed the line between sanctioned and unsanctioned violence in sport. It will also address various aspects of the incident, including legal aspects and speculate as to the why Bertuzzi, an athlete known for his highly competitive physical approach to the game, would, apparently “out of character”, commit an unsanctioned violent act. Reversal theory, an innovative general theory in psychology is used to explain the motivation behind such sudden violent behavior. Possibilities for eliminating unsanctioned violence from ice hockey are considered.
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