WA sporting codes stand united to tackle poor spectator behaviour in crisis meeting with Government Ministers

More than a dozen WA sporting codes have committed to review their efforts to tackle poor spectator behaviour after a crisis meeting with Government Ministers on Wednesday. The roundtable — led by the State’s Sports Minister David Templeman and Family Violence Minister Sabine Winton — came in the wake of shocking fights erupted at junior AFL and soccer games in Perth over the last fortnight. WA Football Commission boss Michael Roberts was among 15 executives from WA sporting codes in attendance, including basketball, soccer, rugby and even surfing. He said it was an opportunity to share initiatives to mitigate the violence. “I think meeting regularly is important and learning off each other. We’re all doing things that we can learn from each other,” Mr Roberts said. Mr Templeman said a raft of new challenges were raised, including social media’s influence on behaviour, an increase in female participation and more night-scheduled games. “We have a reinvigorated commitment from all of our codes today to keep on working together,” Mr Templeman said. “We wanted to make sure we got a bit of a temperature test as to the landscape out there with regard to violence to sport and some of the pressures and challenges that face our sporting organisations.” Alcohol use on the sidelines was also raised at the meeting, with Mr Templeman reminding spectators, particularly at junior games, that their conduct would set the standard for young West Aussies. Ms Winton said the role sport can contribute to stamping out family, and domestic violence in the broader community was also discussed as well as whether respectful relationship educational programs could be taught at sporting clubs. “It was a really great opportunity to talk to the codes about their past commitments and contributions to this important Statewide campaign,” she said. “I want to personally acknowledge the many sports codes that have taken a really important role over a number of years in terms of supporting the prevention of family domestic violence. Mr Roberts said while he doesn’t believe his code has “a problem with violence”, he labelled one instance “one too many”. “I don’t think we’ve necessarily got a problem with violence from spectators but even one occurrence is too many,” Mr Roberts said. “Raising awareness and getting sporting codes aligned is important.” Mr Roberts said he hoped all codes could implement similar initiatives to some in the WAFC which deter violence. He said one example was team “e-points” for sportsmanship which impact a side’s scoreboard result if they exhibit poor conduct. “You get rewarded for the behaviour of the club as much as you do for winning the game,” he said. “I think more sports are starting to dabble in that, but I think for junior sports that should be across the board because it would really start putting the focus back on the club and the environments they’re providing.” Perth negotiation specialist Julia Ewert encouraged all sporting codes to consider educating players, officials, and umpires with simple de-escalation tactics and to incorporate them into game schedules. Drawing on her expertise in negotiation techniques used by the FBI, Ms Ewert suggested that the first step to creating a safer playing environment would be to “humanise” those involved in the game. As an example, Ms Ewert said umpires could be introduced to fans on the sideline of games before they start. It was a technique she displayed at a recent under-nine-year-olds game between Victoria Park and Thornlie when a 12-year-old girl was the referee. Standing in front of the crowd, Ms Ewert introduced her to the spectators and allowed her to explain why she liked umpiring and what her aspirations were. “One way that we can reduce the risk of violence and conflict is by humanising the players. This can make a massive difference,” she said. “She talked about what she loves about umpiring and that she wants to be an AFL referee when she grows up.” She used “keyboard warriors” as a parallel example. People can say hurtful things online when they’re faceless that they might not otherwise say if the target was physically in front of them. “When you put that person in front of that person, they’re not so brave. They’re really polite. And mostly they’ll back out of it,” she said. “As humans we are wired to react, to defend, retaliate and justify. “It takes a huge amount of self-control to respond in a calm way.” Ms Ewert criticised the State Government’s roundtable as nothing more than a “talkfest” that wouldn’t reach the people who need education the most — parents, spectators, officials, and umpires. “From a verbal de-escalation point of view, I can already tell you that roundtables are a giant waste of time because the people they want to influence aren’t at that table,” she said. “I believe the solution is in skills training for the parents and the umpires rather, or in addition to a code of conduct. “There’s lots of skills and techniques that we can use.” Ms Ewert said if we see someone nearby who is angered, the best thing to do is to acknowledge their feelings and urge people to avoid telling the upset person to “calm down”. “The first thing people say is calm down. That’s a terrible strategy. Instead, (they should) do the complete opposite,” Ms Ewert said. “Ask them ‘tell me more about that?’ and say, ‘I can see why you feel that way’. It’s very hard to be angry at someone who’s been nice to you. “Very quickly, that person’s tank will be empty, and they’ll stop. They will deescalate because you’re not being angry back to them.”