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Our ultimate goal is to change the negative behaviour of adults involved (either indirectly but also directly) in underage sport to ensure that sport becomes a positive and life-affirming endeavour, one that builds confidence and a life long love of physical activity rather than one that undermines the confidence of young players. We want to run an educational campaign to raise awareness among all supporters at sporting matches about the impact that negative behavior has on players and young people. We hope to get every local club on board to bring this awareness to all parents and to make a real effort to change cultures in clubs, to take a zero-tolerance approach to the abuse of underage players in particular. We are aiming to get clubs to make a pledge for improvement, to earn a P1P2 flag that we intend designing.
Our Social Issue
We are concerned about the behaviour of adults at underage sporting events such as Gaelic football, hurling and soccer matches. We know from personal experience, the experience of our siblings and the experience of our friends, that the abuse of players is a significant issue that is resulting in reduced player enjoyment, increased pressure, a drop in self-confidence and even some players wanting to or actually dropping out of sport.
Why We Chose It
We chose this social issue because we have witnessed it being a huge issue in our school and within the community. We believe sport should not have any form of abusive or discriminatory behaviour. Despite Children First legislation, verbal, emotional and even physical violence towards underage players is regularly witnessed at underage matches. There is a lack of academic research in this area that might identify the extent of such abuse endured by young players. That is why we decided to investigate and tackle abusive side-line behaviour as we want to make a difference both on and off the pitch.
Our Goal
Our ultimate goal is to change the negative behavior of adults involved in underage sport, making sport a positive and life-affirming activity, building confidence and a lifelong love of physical activity rather than one that undermines the confidence of young players. We also want to change player-to-player abuse, stamping out on-pitch bullying. We want to educate adults and players so they understand the impact abusive behavior has on young players. We hope to get clubs to take a zero-tolerance approach to the abuse of underage players and earn the Safer Clubs P1P2 flag we have designed.
Our Innovative Action
We survey over 300 young players to ascertain the level of abuse happening in GAA sports and Soccer. We then pitched to CYPSC and CMETB youth officer for financial support for our project. We contacted two clubs to ask if they would pilot our flag initiative. We designed and delivered two workshops and a parent presentation to tackle side-line and player-to-player abuse. We designed our P1P2 flag and also six all-weather pitch-side posters that are ready to go due to CYPSC funding. We shot a short film to show that pitch abuse is not okay.
Our Impact
We have made so many positive changes. We have educated parents, coaches and players on why it’s not ok to give abuse on the pitch or shout abuse at under-age players from the side-lines. We have educated them on the impact it has on players and how it is not tolerated anywhere else so why the pitch? The reaction from adults in particular has been strong when they encounter our statistics and the quotes from young players. We have generated a lot of conversation about the issue in school and clubs. Another club, Clontibret, want to come on