The Time is Now.

In Germany sport is organised at a federal level. Therefore, most policy and legislation are implemented by local sport federations rather than at a national level. In accordance with the German Constitution, federal support for sport concentrates on high-performance sport and exceptional sport activities of national interest. Sport policy is a demanding area of activity, with highly differentiated aspects and a wide variety of approaches.

The basic principles of sport policy are the autonomy of sport, subsidiarity of sport funding and cooperation with sport organisations.

Structures

Federal sport policy is oriented on the constitutional division of responsibilities between the federal and state governments. As part of its national responsibility for sport, the Federal Government is also dedicated to overseeing and improving the framework conditions for the appropriate development of recreational sport, not only because sport for all is an important source of elite athletes, but also because recreational sport can help promote social cohesion.

During the nationwide discussions on bullying and the sexual harassment of children in sport institutions in 2010, the German Olympic Sports Confederation DOSB and the German Sport Youth (DSJ) - on the basis of existing concepts of their member organisations - have further developed their structures and recommendations for action on the topic of prevention of and intervention in (sexualised) violence in sports. All member organisations have appointed contact persons and developed further measures for prevention and intervention, including in cooperation with external specialist agencies and public child and youth welfare organisations.

Definition of Sport in Germany

“Sport” is a cultural field of activity in which people voluntarily enter into a relationship with other people to compare their respective abilities and skills in the art of movement - according to self-imposed or adopted rules and on the basis of socially accepted ethical values.

The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) has stipulated in its admission regulations that only sports associations are recognised that practice sports that meet specific requirements.

The clubs and associations are committed to fair play and the prevention of bullying or any other kind of harassment. Sports, in general, aim to foster people’s movement and the body-oriented holistic development of the personality and strive for health in physical, mental and social terms.

Health-oriented sports are an integral part of what the DOSB member organisations offer. For children and young people in particular, the club - in addition to family and school - represents an essential element in learning social skills. At the same time, associations and clubs are committed to the comprehensive consideration of movement, play and sport in education. The understanding of sport includes the joy of physical performance, the need for comparison and the identity-forming effect of competitive sport for the individual as well as for the community (cf. LSB Berlin, 2022).

In December 2010, the agreement “Protection against sexualised violence in sport - prevent, look, act!” was signed by all DOSB member organisations. All federations included in this research (football, basketball, volleyball, handball, tennis, hockey, equestrian, swimming, track and field and gymnastics) agreed to this declaration and rooted it in their statutes. The commitment is to condemn violence and the abuse of power - especially against children and young people - in the strongest possible terms. According to their individual statues, for all sports it is important to jointly create a culture of mindfulness and to promote mutual respect and tolerance in their sports.

The German government is working closely together with the organised sports federations to prevent bullying in sports. The Independent Commissioner on Child Sexual Abuse (Unabhängige Beauftragte für Fragen des sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs, UBSKM) is part of the Federal Government for the concerns of victims and their relatives, for experts from practice and science, as well as for all people in politics and society who are committed to combating sexual violence. The website of the UBSKM is the central information portal for the topic of child sexual abuse in the Federal Republic of Germany. The portal provides an insight into the work of the UBSKM, documents activities and developments, and oers a wealth of information and assistance for victims, relatives, professionals and interested parties. It also includes one section with specific risks and challenges in the field of sport and violence (cf. UBSKM, 2022).

Alongside supporting academic research, the DOSB decided to implement a steps model. The DOSB step model describes the minimum standards for prevention and protection against sexualised harassment and violence in sport for DOSB member organisations and DOSB-related institutions and its gradual implementation in December 2020. The step-by-step implementation with a total of 11 steps will become a funding requirement for transfers of public funds by the DOSB from 2022 onwards, insofar as this is possible under funding law. The same applies to grants from the DOSB’s own funds to its member organisations and to institutions in which the DOSB’s member organisations hold the majority of votes and which are organised in the legal form of a registered association. The phased model must be implemented gradually by the end of 2024.

In addition to the steps model and further implementations based on the Safe Sport project and VOICE and CASES, the “Centre of Safe Sport” has been implemented in 2022. The independent centre, to which the governing coalition committed itself in its coalition agreement, and for whose establishment the federal government intends to present a roadmap in the course of the year, has been established at the end of 2022.

The Centre will focus on tasks in the areas of prevention, intervention and reappraisal. For example, it will receive reports, initiate investigations and, if necessary, impose sanctions. As part of the Centre of Safe Sport, the “Anlaufstelle gegen Gewalt” (point of contact against violence) began its work in May 2022 and oers those elite athletes aected by bullying the possibility of anonymous telephone counselling, written contact and longer-term support from qualified contact persons. If necessary, the aected federal athletes can take advantage of support in the form of initial legal advice and/or psychotherapeutic counselling. Relatives and/or persons who have observed violence and abuse in elite sports can also contact this innovative support center.

A specific consideration must be given to the LGBTQ+ community in Germany in the context of bullying and harassment in sport. Generally speaking, the legal and human rights situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and sexually/ gender diverse (LGBTQ+) people in Europe has improved over the past decades (European Commission, 2015). This is also documented in the Rainbow Index of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA, 2020), which ranked Germany 16th among 49 European countries regarding the implementation of legal and human rights.

There is growing empirical evidence that LGBTQ+ people regularly experience discrimination and exclusion in sports (Denison, Bevan, & Jeanes, 2020; Kavoura & Kokkonen, 2020). Looking at Germany, the situation of LGBTQ+ people is lacking data. Although the German Olympic Sports Confederation and its member organisations explicitly commit to the strategy of sport for all and have integrated equality of opportunities and/or antidiscrimination in its statutes, as seen above (DOSB, 2019), only a minority of the sports organisations mention LGBTQ+, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity as one of their antidiscrimination priorities (Csonka 2019; Hartmann-Tews, Menzel & Braumüller, 2022). According to a study by Hartmann-Tews, Menzel & Braumüller, (2022), transgender athletes and those who did not identify as male, female, or transgender have a higher level of vulnerability: “This was particularly evident with regard to experiences of homo-/ transnegative episodes, which were reported to be four times higher among non-cisgender respondents. In particular, verbal threats, structural exclusion, e-bullying, and physically crossing the line were more often experienced by non-cisgender athletes” (p.46, Hartmann-Tews, Menzel & Braumüller, 2022).

Tackling the exclusion and discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ people in sports in general and organised sport in particular is highly important. Regarding the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals and antidiscrimination policies, organised sports are still lacking to understand the importance of raising awareness of bullying. Having a contact person for antidiscrimination for the community could be one step. Research on gender-based violence in sports has also documented the crucial role of institutionalised practices that give voice to affected persons and bystanders for the purpose of safeguarding the integrity of individuals and organisations (Hartmann-Tews, Menzel & Braumüller, 2022).

In 2020, the “Bremer Erklärung” was signed by all sport ministers and includes the following to prevent bullying of LGBTQ+ people in organised sports.

An overview of best practice examples across a variety of sport areas can be found in appendix 3 of the main report.

Please find below resources in relation to the spotlight on sexualised violence and LGBTQ+ in the German grey literature review:

Video “Kein Raum für Missbrauch”:

The video explains how children and young people can be protected from sexual violence in sport clubs.

Full-body suits against sexism and bullying:

After serious sexism allegations in German gymnastics, the German female gymnasts protested against sexism and sexual assault at Olympics by wearing full body suits at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021

Policy for inclusion of trans people, German Football Federation:

The German football federation recently implemented a specific policy for the inclusion of trans people, to prevent and tackle discrimination and harassment. This policy states that anyone has the right to participate at trainings and competitions according to their gender identity rather than their legal gender.

BunT – Bundesnetzwerktagung der queeren Sportvereine:

Every year, queer sports clubs in Germany meet in a large conference lasting several days to jointly focus on several issues about sexual and gender diversity in sports, stereotyping, or gender-sensitive language.

Ireland’s legislation is a national legislation unlike the federal approach of Germany. The organisation of the structures to support the implementation of policy and actions under this legislation occurs however at a national, regional and local level.

Legislation

The Sport Ireland Act 2015 was an Act to provide for the administration and development of sport in the State; to provide for the establishment of a body to be known in the Irish language as Spórt Éireann or in the English language as Sport Ireland; to provide for the dissolution of the Irish Sports Council and the National Sports Campus Development Authority; to update the law in relation to doping in sport; and to provide for related matters.

There are a number of areas in the legislation where bullying in sport appears to be implicitly dealt with i.e. education and information programmes for good conduct and fair play, guidelines and codes of practice promoting best practice for the protection of children in sport consistent with child protection legislation, coach and tutor development and qualifications.

Structures

The structures supporting sport organisation and development operate at a national, regional and local level. National Governing Bodies (NGB) organise, promote and facilitate opportunities for participation in sport and physical activity in both recreational and competitive forms. Local Sports Partnerships (LSP) network plays a similarly vital role and has been tasked, in particular, with increasing participation levels in sport and physical activity, especially among those sectors of society that are currently underrepresented in sport. Representative Sporting Organisations play a vitally important strategic, operational and advocacy role for Irish sport at all levels. Their wide-ranging national and international perspective and expertise on issues affecting sport is a particularly valuable input to sports policy development. It is expected that the key bodies concerned – the Federation of Irish Sport, the Olympic Council of Ireland, Paralympics Ireland, Ireland Active and the CARA Centre among others – will contribute significantly to the effective implementation of the current Sport Ireland Policy (2018-2025).

Definition of Sport in Ireland

Ireland has adopted, and adapted, the Council of Europe’s definition where “sport means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aims at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental wellbeing, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels.” Ireland’s adaptation has resulted in two separate strands, namely ‘recreational sport’ and ‘competitive sport’. These have been defined in the Sport Ireland Act, 2015.

Policy context in Ireland

Ireland’s National Sports Policy 2018 – 2027

Following an extensive consultation process and research of best practice internationally, Ireland’s policy sets out a Vision for Irish Sport from 2018 to 2027 along with 57 actions to transform the Irish sporting landscape over the next decade. The policy commits to an integrated approach, in acknowledgement that the Government and its agencies, cannot deliver the aims of the policy in isolation and so Governing Bodies of Sport, Local Sports Partnerships and the various representative sporting organisations, specifically the Federation of Irish Sport, the Olympic Council of Ireland, Paralympics Ireland, Ireland Active and the CARA Centre amongst others are identified as central to the achievement of the planned transformation.

The Policy aims are to develop a sports sector that can help deliver on the major objectives established in the policy around participation and high performance, and which is sustainable, responsible and responsive based on sound principles. The principles relating to workforce development, the promotion of inclusivity and the promoting of safety, fairness and ethical behaviour are particularly pertinent to the BeFore project.

The Policy identifies that Ireland will continue to have a more ethnically and culturally diverse population over its lifespan including many groups in which active and social participation rates in sport have tended to be low i.e. socio-economic status, disability, ethnicity and gender. The Policy commits to addressing the sharp and persistent low levels of participation in these areas.

The 57 actions to transform the Irish sporting landscape by 2027 are distributed across nine thematic areas. The research and evidence informed education and training programmes and/or professional development, that the BeFore project will carry out and develop is timely, strategically well placed and clearly aligned with a large number of these 57 actions under most of the nine thematic areas; the themes of Participation, Sports Facilities, Building Capacity, Integrity of Sport and Implementation, Monitoring and Review particularly so.

Under 18s context
Over-18s context

Much of the guidance on safeguarding children’s participation in sport is underpinned by Sport Ireland’s Safeguarding Guidance for Children & Young People in Sport framework, which itself is developed in line with the National Guidance Policy for the Protection and Welfare of Children (2017) and the Children’s First Act (2015). The Children First Act identifies specific vulnerable groups, including: children with disabilities, ethnic minorities and migrants and LGBTQ+ individuals. The Act does identify schools, but does not identify sport or sports clubs as potential contexts that may be particularly at risk of bullying behaviour taking place. Sport Ireland’s Safeguarding in Sport framework was developed to support National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) and clubs to ensure they can meet their child safeguarding and child protection responsibilities. The framework has been adopted by several leading NGBs including the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), Athletics Ireland, Tennis Ireland, and Basketball Ireland. The Risk Assessment audit includes recommendations on the development of an anti-bullying policy, however, no specific guidance is provided on what this should comprise.

All four of the aforementioned NGBs child safeguarding policies define bullying behaviour and outline forms of emotional abuse, which may constitute bullying. Athletics Ireland is one of the few NGBs to provide an easily accessible anti-bullying policy on their website and provide a seven step ‘No Blame’ approach for dealing with incidents of bullying. In summary, guidelines on safeguarding children and youth in sport appear to be well established. Although definitions and vulnerable groups were identified in the policies reviewed, specific guidance for addressing bullying behaviour was not consistently applied as part of these policies. The nature or direction of the bullying behaviour (e.g. peer to peer, coach to sport participant, parent to coach, coach to parent, or parent to child) was also ill-defined.

In Ireland all government-funded national governing bodies of sport have introduced child protection policies that define and outlaw all forms of child abuse (sexual, physical, emotional, and neglect) and have established child protection training for coaches and other staff (and volunteers) working with children in sport. The implementation of the policy is voluntary for sports organisations and represents a limitation.

The safeguarding of adults, outside of those deemed ‘vulnerable’, in sport does not seem to exist nor is there specific guidance or a framework for it.

Policies related to adults and bullying behaviour appear to be confined to those employed in sporting roles and the employment related policies that prevent and address bullying within an employment context, e.g.

Codes of conduct/behaviour
Equality policies
Dignity in the workplace
Social Media Policy

Overall, 1.58 million adults regularly participated in sport during 2021 40% of the adult population Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) 2021 Annual report (Sport Ireland, 2021). With so many adults participating in sport regularly the requirement for a safe environment and access cannot be underestimated.

Sport Ireland identify that their statutory remit and strategic vision require that they take account, and serve the needs, of people with disabilities across the sporting spectrum. Even with their efforts to date and those of other organisations to increase participation in sport and physical activity among people with disabilities, participation levels are still considerably lower than those among the general population; also, people with disabilities are significantly more likely to be sedentary than people without disabilities.

There are a number of sources available to look at the participation of people with disabilities in sport and physical activity in Ireland. These include the 2006 Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS), the Irish Sports Monitor (ISM 2007 – 2015) (Sport Ireland, 2007), Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) and The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA ). While these surveys use different methods and questionnaires to record participation in sport and physical activity, some consistent messages have emerged from them including the following:

Among adults, individuals with disabilities are significantly less likely to participate in sport and exercise than those without disabilities.
Persons with disabilities have similar motivations to those without disabilities for taking part in sport and physical activity. The three main motivations among both groups are (ISM 2013) (University College Dublin, 2013):
- Improving health and fitness,
- spending time with friends and family;
- controlling weight.
Individuals with a disability are significantly more likely to be sedentary and less likely to be highly active than people without disabilities.

Sport Ireland currently funds and works with a range of organisations providing and promoting opportunities for people with disabilities to take part in sport and physical activity. Included among these are:

National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) both catering exclusively for people with disabilities (Deaf Sports Ireland, Irish Wheelchair Association, Special Olympics Ireland and Vision Sport Ireland) and some mainstream NGBs (i.e. those which have the capacity and capability to include people with disabilities in their programmes);
Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) primarily through the work of the Sports Inclusion Disability Programme;
CARA advocates for the inclusion of people with disabilities in sport and physical activity, encourages a national vision while supporting local provision, and builds capacity through education and training programmes. CARA also supports Local Sports Partnerships and National Governing Bodies in relation to their inclusive policies and practices; and
Paralympics Ireland, the lead agency in the support of high performance athletes with disabilities.

CARA have developed a guide for sports clubs and organisations to develop a specific disability inclusion policy and have also developed sport inclusion disability charter.

There is a diversity of ethnic minority groups in Ireland who make up about 12% of the population (CSO, 2016). The current state of knowledge on engagement levels, barriers, and supports for ethnic minority groups in sport in Ireland is limited (Kadango 2015). The National Sports Policy 2018-2027 refers to the importance of participation of migrants and ethnic minorities to combat social exclusion, but does not provide specific guidance or a framework for inclusion. One of fifty-seven actions highlighted in the report (Action Six) refers to increasing sport participation among ‘persons with a disability, the LGBT+ community, the Traveller community and other ethnic minorities’ (Government of Ireland 2017, p.32). The Policy does acknowledge the information deficit in Ireland on integrating ethnic minorities.

NGBs and LSPs eorts to promote inclusion among ethnic minorities and migrants appear to be on an ad-hoc and individual sport basis. The Sport Ireland website does include a tab on Migrants (https://www.sportireland.ie/participation/target-groups/migrants), however, there is no information or resources provided on this webpage. A global spotlight has been shone on the issue of racism in elite sport in recent years, and this has led to NGB campaigns such as ‘Show Racism the Red Card (FAI). The FAI have also released ‘Guidelines on the Reporting and Management of Racism and Discrimination in Football’. This manual provides specific guidance on ‘useful terminology’ and ‘reporting incidents of racism’. NGBs including the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and Tennis Ireland do provide generic inclusion policies, however, many of these do not provide specific guidance on inclusion strategies for ethnic minorities and migrants.

In lieu of the lack of specific policy at a state-level, non-for profit organisations such as Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI) have been established with its goal to use the power of sport to challenge discrimination, promote cultural integration and drive social inclusion across all sports in Ireland.

Female participation in sport is showing growing gradients, the Irish Sports Monitor (ISM) tells us that 38% of females regularly participate in sport. Since the introduction of the ISM in 2007, the gap between male and female sports participation has shifted from 15.7% to 4.5% (ISM 2017) (Sport Ireland, 2017). The National Sports Policy 2018- 2027 also highlights the importance of sport being welcoming and inclusive, offering appropriate opportunities for participation and improvement to all, with a specific aim to promote inclusion to deliver desired outcomes with a focus on addressing gender. Tackling the inequalities faced by women in sport saw the establishment of a Sport Ireland policy on Women in Sport, launched 2019, with four key thematic areas:

Coaching and Officiating
Active Participation
Leadership and Governance
Visibility of Women

The Sport Ireland website as part of its Women in Sport (https://www.sportireland.ie/Women-in-Sport) includes a range of resources to support women in sport and women in coaching. While there is currently nothing specific on preventing and addressing bullying in sport, a training programme like what BeFore aims to develop, could sit under any of the four thematic areas of the current policy.

The Time is Now Report_Image 8

In 2020, Sport Ireland commissioned a research report on Women in Sport Coaching. Bullying is specifically mentioned as a barrier under the theme of gender related issues. The significance of the importance of developing the skills relating to behaviours and attitudes alongside the usual technical skills for coaches is evident here also, e.g. conflict management, inclusive practices, managing expectations. This is a key part of the building capacity theme in the overall National Sports Policy.

Figure: Barriers from Sport Ireland’s report on "Women in Sport Coaching" research report 2020

Figure: Barriers from Sport Ireland’s report on "Women in Sport Coaching" research report 2020

Sport Ireland has provided documents and policies to promote women in sport and equality in sport. It appears as though many sports organisation adopt these policies as they are rather than tailoring them to their organisations—this could of course be a resource issue for the organisations/clubs but may impact the effective implementation. In their work to advocate, contribute and support greater female representation at all levels of their sport, Athletics Ireland launched their Women in Sport Strategic Plan 2021-2024, under their Women in Sport Officer. Dedicating both a role and specific strategic plan demonstrates a high level of commitment to addressing the gender issue.

Athletics Ireland is one of the few NGBs to provide an easily accessible anti-bullying policy on their website and provide a seven step ‘No Blame’ approach for dealing with incidents of bullying. This policy is based on Scout Ireland’s Child Protection policy and requires some updating.

Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI) have been established with its goal to use the power of sport to challenge discrimination, promote cultural integration and drive social inclusion across all sports in Ireland (source = https://www.sari.ie/organisation).

Government intervention in sport in Article 43.3 of the 1978 Constitution states that “The public authorities shall foster health education, physical education and sport and also facilitate the proper use of leisure”, but this is not the only provision that enables to intervene in the sports phenomenon, since in accordance with the territorial and administrative structure of the Spanish State, the Autonomous Communities are endowed with their own legislative power. Therefore, any autonomic law fits into the legislative framework of the country.

Spain’s existing law regulating sport dates back to 1990. This law is very outdated and has a number of limitations. At time of writing this report the Spanish government has drafted and approved a new law regulating key aspects of sport – this is currently pending ratification in Congress (“Ley 39/2022 del Deporte”, meaning Sports Law 39/2022). This new law deals with essential aspects related to bullying and inclusion. Thus, this law establishes sport as a right for all citizens and it is the state’s responsibility to provide sufficient resources for the practice of sport.

At regional level, most of Spain’s Autonomous Communities have drawn up their own regulations for the promotion and regulation of everything to do with sport. For example, in 2015 the Region of Murcia approved Law 8/2015, on Physical Activity and Sport. This regulation establishes in its chapter I, article 11, that sportspeople should not be discriminated against “on the occasion of practising sport for reasons of birth, race, sex, religion, opinion, disability or any other personal or social condition or circumstance, accessing the practice of sport with the only limitation of their abilities that imply a potential risk to their health” (p. 12).

Another area of national legislative relevance with regard to BeFore is Law 19/2007, against violence, racism, xenophobia, and intolerance in sport. However, this law is framed more as an application in professional sports, establishing preventive and sanctioning measures in stadiums and teams that do not comply with the current regulations. It has recently been modified by an amendment published on 30 December 2022 with some wordings modifications to use more inclusive language.

Another regulation, which, although not expressly sport-related, also has an influence on sport. In 2021, the Spanish Government approved Organic Law 8/2021, on the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents against violence. ATERPE, the Child Protection Project of Athletic’s Club , identifies that sports must be a space for well-being and joy for children and that historically sports have not been a space where the protection of children, the prevention of violence against children and their proper treatment, have been consciously prioritised for sports institutions, entities and clubs. In its document on the implications for the world of sports in applying the regulations of this Law it identifies that the Law is an important step forward in terms of child protection, as well as in sports.

Finally, the agreement signed between the Spanish Government and the UNICEF association for the protection of children and adolescents in the field of sport is also relevant for this review. With this agreement, both entities aim to advance the development of safe environments for minors free from any form of violence, abuse or exploitation.

Definition of Sport in Spain

There is no distinction made in Spain with regard to a definition of sport in a competitive context and sport in a recreational context.

Policy context in Spain

The latest Spanish Higher Sports Council (CSD) strategy and main focus in Sport Spanish Policy from 2018, is based on the following topics and the majority of which are implemented thought national strategies:

Woman and sport
Inclusion in sport
Eradication of violence in sport
Good governance
Transparency in sport federations
Equal opportunities policy between man and woman in sport
Promotion healthy habits through sport and fight against obesity

Similar to the commitment in the current Irish Sport Ireland Policy, the Spanish government has started to be aware of the importance of training coaches beyond technical skills. In March of 2021, the Spanish Higher Sports Council (CSD) started to implement a training course on the prevention of sexual violence in sport addressed to internal people from CDS and staff and coaches in high-performance centers.

The objective of this training is:

To familiarise coaches with the new protocol for protection against violence
To help coaches to know how and in what way to act in the face of harassment.
To raise awareness of harassment
Promote behavioural guidelines
To do detection and prevention work

Structures

In Spain, the ministry in charge of sport is the Ministry of Culture and Sport. This Ministry acts through the Spanish Higher Sports Council (Consejo Superior de Deportes, CSD), the most important Spanish sport institution which is the regulator of all the Spanish sports institutions and federations, and also the sports associations management, local and autonomic organisation of sports.

The Spanish Higher Sports Council (CSD) coordinates the national and international competitions, and manages the athletes for high performance competitions. It is in charge of international relationships and cooperation though sports, the sport sector conference, sport facilities, sport training and formation, Iberoamerican Council on Sport, the administrative court of sport and dierent collegiate organs, like the State Commission against Violence in Sport. The Spanish Higher Sports Council (CSD) also manage sport federations, sport promotion, scholar-age sport programs, health through sports and high performance in sports (Olympic and Paralympic sports).

The organisation of sport in Spain is based on a system of mutual collaboration between the public and private sectors. Both sectors share responsibility for the promotion and development of physical activities and sports. In Spain, the public sport sector exists in three levels of administrative regional governments: the Central Government, the Autonomous Communities and Local Government, in accordance with the assumed competence framework. It should be noted that dierent sports have dierent federations managing them. For instance, soccer is managed by a private company. Most individual sports do not have a federation, but there are associations to have them minimally regulated and to grant licenses when needed.

Beside all the previous legislation, in Spain, competences in sport are delegated to the Autonomous Communities (17 in the whole country). Most part of them they have a “Sport Law”, where it is defined mainly:

the development, construction and management of sports facilities
the coordination of regional sports federations in the territory
the coordination, promotion and protection of sports associations
the main legislative powers on sports policy at regional level
the public funded sports programmes performed in the region
the physical education and school sport policies and programmes
the training of technicians
coaches and sports leaders
the management of training centres for graduates in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences
the regulation of sport professionals

Definition of Sport in Spain

There is no distinction made in Spain with regard to a definition of sport in a competitive context and sport in a recreational context.

Policy context in Spain

The latest Spanish Higher Sports Council (CSD) strategy and main focus in Sport Spanish Policy from 2018, is based on the following topics and the majority of which are implemented thought national strategies:

Woman and sport
Inclusion in sport
Eradication of violence in sport
Good governance
Transparency in sport federations
Equal opportunities policy between man and woman in sport
Promotion healthy habits through sport and fight against obesity

Similar to the commitment in the current Irish Sport Ireland Policy, the Spanish government has started to be aware of the importance of training coaches beyond technical skills. In March of 2021, the Spanish Higher Sports Council (CSD) started to implement a training course on the prevention of sexual violence in sport addressed to internal people from CDS and staff and coaches in high-performance centers.

The objective of this training is:

To familiarise coaches with the new protocol for protection against violence
To help coaches to know how and in what way to act in the face of harassment.
To raise awareness of harassment
Promote behavioural guidelines
To do detection and prevention work

In Spain there are some programmes and strategies to avoid and prevent bullying in sports. Please find below some of the most important of them:

Protocol for action and prevention of harassment in the sports environment. Created by the Bera Bera club this protocol is oriented to all members of the club including athletes, coaches, service personnel. This programme is relevant because it addresses all possible types of harassment and although part of the protocol is specific to club members, most of the information can be extrapolated.
The Protection of Athletes from Harassment and Abuse in Sport Guide. This guide aims to assist National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs) in the creation and implementation of policies and procedures for the protection of athletes.
Awareness-raising sessions and events for families, athletes and coaches. For example: https://www.xunta.gal/notas-de-prensa/-/nova/72542/xunta-impulsa-lugo-ciclo-luz-deporte-colaboracion-con-fundacion-breogan-abanca

Moreover, there is a “Centro Superior de Enseñanzas Deportivas (CSED)”. CSDE is a public educational centre, attached to the Spanish Higher Sports Council , whose main objective is the training of sports technicians who assume leadership, responsibility, professional self-demand and respect for the values of fair play as hallmarks of their professional practice.

Outside of these, there are no explicit initiatives from the government for training coaches with regard to bullying prevention and intervention in sport.

However, there are two courses also oered by the CSD in which values and violence prevention can be implicitly worked on. These are the “Coach’s Word” and “What I learned from my Coach” programs. These courses are based on the premise of learning from expert coaches, their testimonies, experience, and examples. Implicit in this training is the learning of different values, prevention and detection of violence in sport.

In addition to governmental actions, there are relevant initiatives from the private companies in the training of trainers. For example the company WATS Coach Academy has a training course for coaches focused on:

Team building with values
Mediation and sports psychology
Prevention of violence in sports

Through its legislation two of the specific inclusion areas are incorporated with particular relevance to the BeFore project: a) gender equality as a principle and b) the incorporation of people with disabilities in the same federation as other players without disabilities. The aim is to improve the inclusion of all people. In addition, the federations must have protocols of prevention and action in cases of discrimination, abuse or harassment on grounds of sex or authority, otherwise they will not be eligible to receive public funding or subsidies.

Some examples of programmes and strategies with regard to gender, gender related violence and disability are:

Guide for the prevention of sexual abuse and harassment of women in sport. Created by the Basque Women’s Institute.
Protocol of action against sexual violence High Performance Centers of the CSD. To establish guidelines for the prevention of violence against women.
Inclusive sports program. Inclusive sports is a program that seeks to promote the practice of sports by people with disabilities as a tool for their social integration. The aim of this program is:
- Promote the practice of sports activities among people with disabilities, preferably in an inclusive manner and in a framework close to their school, social and family environment.
- Guarantee access to and use of sports facilities as a fundamental element for equal opportunities.
- Improve the training and specialization in sport and disability of those responsible for Physical Education and sport.
- Communicate and raise awareness about inclusive sports practice both in society and in the the sports system itself.

Protocol for action and prevention of harassment in the sports environment. Created by the Bera Bera club this protocol is oriented to all members of the club including athletes, coaches, service personnel. This programme is relevant because it addresses all possible types of harassment and although part of the protocol is specific to club members, most of the information can be extrapolated.
The Protection of Athletes from Harassment and Abuse in Sport Guide. This guide aims to assist National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and International Federations (IFs) in the creation and implementation of policies and procedures for the protection of athletes.
Awareness-raising sessions and events for families, athletes and coaches. For example: https://www.xunta.gal/notas-de-prensa/-/nova/72542/xunta-impulsa-lugo-ciclo-luz-deporte-colaboracion-con-fundacion-breogan-abanca
Program “Not everything goes. Don’t allow it”. This program is an alliance for the good treatment of children and adolescents in sports. It proposes a framework for action and rationale.

Degrading treatment and discrimination are regulated by the School Act (2010:800) and the Discrimination Act (2008:567). The Discrimination Act states that no person should be discriminated or harassed according to their legal gender, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation or age. The Convention of the Rights of the Child are legislated in Sweden since 2020, even though the convention was signed in 1990. There is still an ongoing process of implementing the convention in existing Swedish legislation.

In the constitution (1999:1177) on government grant for sports activities, it is stated that the Swedish Sports Confederation (SSC) is the unifying organisation with the task from the government to support, represent, lead and coordinate the sports movement in all common issues. SSC, together with The Swedish Research Council for Sport Science, are responsible to distribute and monitor the government grant to sports organisations and research projects.

Structures

There are 71 sport federations bound to SSC. The associations connected to those federations are able to get support from the government grant. All federations, and therefore, also, their affiliated associations, are obligated to follow the SSC policies and guidelines in order to remain members and have the possibility to get governmental support.

The Swedish Parasport Association
Sisu Idrottsutbildarna (Sisu Sports Education)

The Swedish Parasport Association (SPA) is a separated sports association that organises sports for people with reduced mobility, visual impairment and intellectual disability. The association also manages the work with Special Olympics, sports for people with intellectual disabilities. The SSC and some affiliated federations do collaborate with the SPA, even though some federations have their own parasport section as well.

Sisu Sports Education (SSE) educate and supports leaders within sports all over Sweden, through their local offices in 19 districts. SSE are funded by the government and are assigned to develop and produce learning material, arrange courses and workshops and support local associations. They oer sports leader trainings, material on inclusion of people with disabilities, mental health within sports, gender equality and norms and more. SSE are a part of the SSC and they collaborate very closely.

Definition of Sport in Sweden

In Sweden, sports is a summary term for dierent types of physical exercises. A definition established within the sports movement is “physical activity that people perform to get exercise and recreation or achieve competition results”.

Policy Context

Idrotten vill (”What the sports movement wants”) National Sports Policy (2019)

This policy document was agreed on by SSC’s highest decision-making body, the “sports parliament”, that consists of a total of 200 representatives for the various sports federations. All affiliated sports federations have to follow what the document states in order to remain members of SSC, even though they work differently to fulfil this. Some federations (such as Football, Floorball and Equestrian) have made their own version of the policy to adapt and adjust it to fit into their specific sport, while others refers to the general policy document and guidelines.

Guidelines

The guidelines are a support for activities in children’s and youth sports, as a complementary document to the policy. The Sports Federations (SF) are encouraged to develop and/or review guidelines, educations and development models adapted to its own sport, with the document as support. The new guidelines were just recently released, and most federations have not yet had time to act on this material. Although the guidelines should primarily be seen as support for SF, they can also serve as a basis for associations and members of associations in discussions regarding the activities that the association wants to conduct.

“The sports movement should be a place where all children and young people feel welcome and safe. This presupposes that everyone actively works to promote the sports movement’s view of people and shows respect for all people’s unique and equal value. It also presupposes other types of eorts with the aim of preventing and tackle social unsafety. All individuals and every sports association are expected to pay attention to and counteract that a child or young person is disadvantaged on the basis of the seven grounds of discrimination. A safe sport is also free from unhealthy training methods, violations, harassment, violence and abuse.”

The five head guidelines:

According to the research report “Emotional abuse in Swedish children’s sports” (Swedish Research Council for Sport Science, 2018), emotional abuse occurs in all sports that was included in the research, both in individual and team sports, and occurs within five themes:

Personal assault or punishment
Destructive criticism
Bullying/teasing
Lack of attention, neglect and unfair treatment/favouritism
Aggressive behaviour/disappointment

SSC has produced working material on “Children’s game rules” and “Creating safe sports environments” so that the sports federations and their clubs can practically work for an inclusive sport, free from bullying, harassment and violence. The material is used to varying degrees by the sports federations. Some federations, such as the Swedish Football Association, have translated the material into their own context.

The screening of the sports federations’ work revealed that most federations have online training on safe sports for their coaches, but it is exclusively for their own leaders and not open for all. Therefore, there was no opportunity to examine the content and scope of that material.

The National Sports Policy (2019) states, among other things, that:

Everyone’s right to be included means that everyone should be able to participate based on their own conditions. Everyone should be able to participate in any sport they want, regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, ethnic and social background, religion / belief, functional ability, sexual orientation or age.
People have different opportunities to participate in the Swedish society. This also applies to people’s opportunity to participate in sports. For example, people with another ethnical background then Swedish, preferably girls, people in socio-economically weak areas and people with some type of disability, have historically not been represented in the sports movement to the same extent as others. The sports movement wants to change this and therefore are actively trying to be outreaching and inclusive towards people specifically from these target groups.
The sports movement wants women and men to have equal rights and opportunities. The sports movement also wants to continuously and actively look at the norms that characterise the sports environments and how they affect individuals and groups. The sports movement wants to be interesting, relevant and welcoming to people, no matter who they are and where they come from.

One step forward (Ett steg framåt), Swedish Football Federation 2018-2021

One Step Forward was a project with a vision to create better conditions for girls with a foreign background to have the opportunity to play football and be included in the football associations. The Swedish Football Federation, in cooperation with the sport districts, schools and football associations, has engaged children as co-creators and reference groups. The project developed material for leaders, trainers and board members on gender equality, democracy and inclusion.

Fifty/Fifty, Swedish Floorball Federation

Fifty/Fifty is an initiative that aims to give leaders, trainers and volunteers knowledge on issues related to gender equality and how it benefits both individuals and the whole association. Fifty/Fifty is an online course with concrete tools that are easy to adapt and use. 436 leaders/trainers have participated in the training so far.

Policy for inclusion of trans people, Swedish Track Federation

The Swedish track federation has a specific policy for inclusion of trans people, to prevent and tackle discrimination and harassment. This policy states that anyone has the right to participate at trainings and competitions according to their gender identity rather than their legal gender.

Empowering Youth Leaders (Trygga Ledare) Swedish Equestrian Federation and Friends Foundation 2019-2021

Empowering Youth Leaders was a project that developed and influenced the Equestrian Federations educational system for all youth and adult trainers, leaders, volunteers and riders. The aim was to strengthen leaders to prevent and act on bullying, harassment and degrading treatment within the riding clubs. The projects outputs are online courses, work material for leaders to use in trainings, improvement of guidelines and strategy documents and more. All material is based on a pre-study with over 600 trainers responding at a survey and interviews with youth and adult leaders. The material has been developed and tested by children, youth and adult leaders. At the end of the project a follow-up study was done, even though it was too soon to measure the long-term impact. The study showed an indication of increased awareness of violations, bullying and harassments among leaders.

Section 2: Comparative Analysis

Legislation

The national legislative context understandably differs across the four partners based on their own political systems. Germany has a federal approach to this while there are national approaches across the other three partners although each of the other three also have national, regional and local structures to support what is required under the legislation. Spain, with their Autonomous Communities, could be said to have a similar organisational approach as federal Germany.

There is specific legislation in all BeFore partner countries with regard to Sport and how it will be organised, funded and monitored. In Spain, there is a system of mutual collaboration between the public and private sectors. Both sectors share responsibility for the promotion and development of physical activities and sports.

Bullying prevention is dealt with differently in each of the partner countries in terms of the connection to legislation. It is implied in the Sport Act 2015 in Ireland through codes of behaviours, standards of conduct and fair play, child protection and coach and tutor education programmes. Ireland’s Employment Equality Acts (1998-2015) and Equal Status Acts (2000-2018) also have relevance both in terms of discrimination and the inclusive nature of this project and the fact that bullying/ harassment will be dealt with at a policy level in accordance with those Acts. Spain’s existing law dates back to 1990 and is currently awaiting a new law to be ratified. This new law deals with essential aspects related to bullying and inclusion. At regional level most of Spain’s autonomous communities have drawn up their own regulations e.g. 2015 Region of Murcia approved Law 8/2015 on Physical Activity and Sport Article 11 regulates discrimination of sportspeople across a number of areas. The recent new law, Organic Law 8/2021, on the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents against violence, explicitly refers to sporting organisations and the need for them to have protocols against violence. In accordance with the German Constitution, federal support for sport concentrates on high-performance and exceptional sport activities of national interest. However, the importance of improved framework conditions for recreational sport has been acknowledged in Germany both as an important source of elite athletes but also in its role for social cohesion. In Sweden, the School Act (2010:800) and the Discrimination Act (2008:567) are relevant in terms of the bullying prevention and intervention element of BeFore and provisions for sport and the organisation of it are dealt with in constitution (1999:1177)

Structures

Germany

German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB)
DOSB member organisations

Ireland

National Governing Bodies	Local Sports Partnerships
Sport Ireland	Representative Sporting Organisations

Spain

Higher Sports Council (Consejo Superior de Deportes, CSD)
Autonomous Communities

Sweden

Swedish Sports Confederation and Sisu Sports Education	Sport Federations
Swedish Parasport Association	Swedish Research Council for Sports Science

Definition of Sport

There was no universal adopted definition across the partners in relation to Sport. The Council of Europe definition is “sport means all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aims at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental wellbeing, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels.” Ireland and Germany distinguish between recreational and professional/high performance sport, while Spain does not. Sweden, while mentioning both, couples them in the sports movement definition “physical activity that people perform to get exercise and recreation or achieve competition results”. The importance of sport, at a social and cultural level, is reflected across the four partners.

In developing and designing the online survey for the needs analysis element of BeFore, the partners look to establish whether a research participant is involved at a recreational and/or competitive level and if that has any impact on their experience of bullying.

Policy context

In the partner countries there are a variety of relevant policies in terms of the policy landscape that BeFore is being developed within. These policies are related specifically to sport and then also child protection and safeguarding, employment policies and equality policies. In trying to provide for sustainability of BeFore after the project, each partner country could look to position BeFore within its own policy landscape and develop a strategy and action plan to locate BeFore strategically within it.

Despite the dierences in how policy is created and implemented across the partner countries there are key common themes that are relevant for BeFore:

Terminology

Inclusion in Sport (of particular relevance to BeFore are the inclusion areas of People with a Disability, Gender and Migrants/Minorities)
Increasing Participation
Building Capacity (at all levels of a sporting organisation) and Workforce Development. This significantly for BeFore includes training and capacity building beyond the technical skill of the sport involved e.g. behaviours, values and attitudes, conflict management, inclusive practices, managing expectations
Eradication of Violence

Terms related to bullying
Minorities

One element worth noting from this review is the wide range of terminology being used that is relevant for BeFore in developing sports education and training with regard to prevention and intervention in the area of bullying in sport. Harassment, racism, sexualised violence, discrimination, sexism, abuse are all terms used that are linked to both bullying behaviours and the inclusion targets of the BeFore project. BeFore will need to consider and clarify terminology at the development and design stage of its programmes and resources.

The review also identified the necessity to clarify the term ‘minorities’. In the context of BeFore ‘minorities’ implies ‘ethnic’ minorities and migrants. Alongside gender and disability this is a particular target group of BeFore.

Anti-Bullying Policies and Programmes OR Bullying Prevention and Intervention Programmes

Anti-Bullying Policies and Programmes are located within the partners’ safeguarding policies/approaches for children and young people and vulnerable adults, within employment related and equality policies for over 18s and as part of inclusion policies in terms of particular target cohorts e.g. women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, migrants and those from ethnic minorities. The location of the programmes and policies within the safeguarding of children and young people and vulnerable adults tends to lead to a focus on sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse and harassment.

While there are well-established and high-level commitments to safeguarding and to dignity in the workplace type approaches to prevent abuse and harassment, this review indicates that there is a significant gap in relation to specific, explicit bullying prevention and intervention programmes in sport. The review also indicates that in developing bullying prevention and intervention programmes in sport the following should be considered:

Ensuring that there are bullying prevention and intervention programmes that cater for coaches working with both under 18s and over 18s sport participants
In the development and design of a programme, that the target group of the prevention activity are involved in the design of the prevention measures
Child protection training being voluntary is identified as a limitation in the Irish review and the variation in clubs’ engagement with requirements in Sweden are also noted, despite an acknowledgement of the importance of it. There could be an argument to follow the German approach of a phased introduction for mandatory training which becomes funding connected over time.