Volunteers are often the backbone of community sport. An estimated 2.9 million Australians volunteer in sport annually3 – making activities like Saturday morning football, little athletics, local sporting clubs and weekend netball possible. Volunteers also hold a critical responsibility in safeguarding children and young people, but new evidence shows they are not consistently supported or equipped by the systems they operate in.
If sporting organisations do not step up and empower volunteers in their roles, children and young people will remain at risk.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which delivered its final report in 2017, heard from 482 survivors who experienced abuse in a sport or recreation setting. Nearly a decade on, children and young people are still at risk: child safeguarding practices in sport remain inadequate.
“Survivors like myself are exhausted. It is unacceptable to keep expecting us to carry this – and unrealistic to expect volunteers to fill the gap without resources or capacity. Child abuse in sport is buried in fragmented systems. Funding comes from everywhere, accountability sits with no one, and the initiatives trying to make change have difficulty proving their impact because the complexity is by design. That ambiguity places children at risk. Institutions must own that – and fix it.” — Helen Wilkie, Lived Experience Committee member
In 2022, researchers at Victoria University found that more than 80% of Australian adults surveyed had experienced at least one form of abuse – psychological, physical or sexual – when playing youth community sport in Australia4. Most never disclosed those experiences to an adult and, for those who did, the experience of disclosing was one that left many feeling dismissed and ignored and it rarely resulted in any changes within the club5.
In light of these findings, the research team asked themselves: how prepared and supported are volunteers in identifying child abuse and taking action? Their 2026 study – funded in part by the National Centre – aimed to answer this question. The results were confronting.
What the research revealed
The independent research team surveyed more than 200 volunteers across the country examining their knowledge, confidence, beliefs and support to effectively respond to a disclosure of child abuse in sport.
The findings indicate that while community sport volunteers are highly motivated to respond to abuse, less than 40% agreed that the current system for reporting child abuse in sport is effective, and one in five even feared repercussions from their club if they raised concerns of child abuse6.
One respondent shared: “In the 12-odd years of active coaching and refereeing, I have never had a face-to-face or group induction to the child reporting responsibilities I have in my sport roles.”
Not only does the largely volunteer workforce in community sport present a unique challenge for protecting children and young people – it is also compounded by the systemic normalisation of abuse and the widespread disbelief of children. Of concern, one in five participants held the belief that children lie about abuse7 – reflecting a broader societal problem. The National Centre’s Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study found that almost one in three Australians may disbelieve a child who discloses sexual abuse and 40% believe older children have a responsibility to actively resist sexual advances made by adults8. If an adult does believe a child when they disclose abuse, many don’t know how to respond – leaving the child unsupported and unprotected.
The consequences of inaction are clear: with volunteers unequipped to identify abuse, respond to disclosures and take action, children and young people will continue to be at risk of being abused in sport. This is evidenced by the research which found that 7.8% of volunteers said there had been a time they suspected child abuse in sport and did not report it9.
While many clubs and organisations are working to strengthen safeguarding practices, these findings highlight that more consistent, system-wide support is needed.
What survivors said must happen
National Centre funding enabled the research team to establish a committee of seven people who had experienced child abuse in sport. Their initial, collective response to the findings was clear:
“Overall, we’re surprised, frustrated and disappointed about the lack of progress on child safeguarding practices in sport, in light of the learnings from the 2017 Royal Commission on Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse.”
Working closely with the Lived Experience Committee since June 2025, the research team co‑developed recommendations and resources for the sport sector and volunteers through a series of collaborative meetings, informed by input from community sport volunteers.
These recommendations highlight that although achieving safety for children and young people in sport relies heavily on volunteers – they cannot take on this responsibility alone. Lived Experience Committee member David Lukins said, “We cannot keep asking volunteers to protect children without equipping them to do so. When lived experience is ignored, gaps remain. When it is embedded in training and policy, those gaps become visible and can finally be addressed.”
So, what can clubs, State Sport Associations (SSAs), National Sport Organisations (NSOs) and peak sporting bodies do?
Commit to education
Develop, evaluate and update educational initiatives that strengthen the capability of volunteers to recognise and respond to all forms of child abuse: physical, psychological and sexual. Initiatives should include deconstructing normalised behaviours in sport, applying trauma-informed principles when responding to a disclosure, clarifying how to report abuse and building understanding of power dynamics and relational boundaries.
Create role models’ case studies
Share stories that show what child safe environments look like in sport. These role‑model case studies bring good practice to life – highlighting safe environments, supportive adults and clubs that respond well when concerns are raised – to help others see what good looks like and inspire them to do the same.
Create and evaluate campaigns that include lived experience stories
These campaigns should aim to bust harmful myths that children lie about abuse and that it’s safer to not take action than to make a mistake. They should also make it easier for volunteers to understand how abuse may be talked about or disclosed, so they feel better equipped to notice signs and respond appropriately.
Make child safety a funding and strategic priority
Give financial and strategic priority to promoting effective identification and responses to child safety concerns by volunteers in community sport, including evaluation.
Review child safeguarding and wellbeing practices
Review the extent to which child safeguarding and wellbeing is embedded within the structure of individual sports at NSOs, SSAs and club levels. This includes how trauma-informed responses are encouraged in all clubs, role overlap, codes of conduct and sport-specific members’ beliefs towards a culture of disclosure and believing children.
Communicate processes effectively
Very clearly communicate the process of raising concerns about a child to parents and volunteers through diverse communication mediums. This could include email, social media, visuals through posters and banners and in on-boarding new volunteers. Volunteers should never have to guess what to do.
Model effective behaviour
Leaders must model safe and appropriate relationships with children and young people, especially leaders in sport clubs, including board members, presidents, secretaries and coaches. Leaders must also take responsibility for their own training in the space and acknowledge everyone is responsible for the wellbeing of children and young people and promoting a culture of disclosure.
“As individuals who have experienced abuse in sport, we know that athletic success is momentary, yet the impacts of harm in sport are far-reaching and long-lasting. Volunteers are often left without clear direction in protecting athletes because athlete safety is not prioritised. State Sporting Associations, National Sporting Organisations, and peak sporting bodies must start carrying the responsibility of safeguarding athletes with urgency.” — Larrissa Haven, Lived Experience Committee
What can sport volunteers do?
These actions sit alongside the responsibility of organisations to ensure volunteers are adequately equipped and supported.
Communicate
Openly communicate about and increase the visibility of child safe policies, practices and responsible adults. This can be as simple as sending a monthly email, holding a start of season session or posting signage in physical and online spaces e.g. social media, website, notice boards.
Amplify children and young people’s voices
Ensure children and young people’s voices are heard and hold decision making power within the club. This could look like developing a youth committee with genuine input into club decisions that affect children’s safety, culture and participation. Involve children and young people in co‑designing codes of conduct, safety principles and club values, so that safeguarding reflects their lived experiences rather than adult assumptions.
Upskill
Upskill in how to prevent, recognise and respond to child abuse within sport settings. Play by the Rules has developed templates and resources specifically for volunteers, and both Play by the Rules and Sport Integrity Australia offer short, self-paced courses on recognising and responding to child abuse in sport. As part of its work to strengthen responses, the National Centre has also developed a practice tool which provides essential information on how to respond when a child discloses sexual abuse, including how to ask questions, react appropriately and take necessary action.
Sport can provide opportunities for children and young people to develop their motor skills, increase their self-worth and build important life skills. This National Volunteer Week, we call on sporting organisations, governing bodies and clubs to ensure volunteers are equipped with the knowledge and confidence they need to protect children and young people so that they can thrive safely, supported by systems that prioritise and enable child safety.
The findings of this study offer key insights into volunteer safeguarding practices in community sport. It is important to note that the survey was conducted only in English and reflects the perspectives of organisations and individuals who chose to participate. Consequently, some communities, sporting contexts and intersecting experiences may not be fully represented. These findings form part of a broader picture, and ongoing engagement with diverse communities remains an important area for future research and collaboration.
References
- Australian Sports Commission. (2025). AusPlay: Participation data for the sport sector.
- Finkelhor, D., Gast, L., Cavanaugh, C., Sutton, S., Jones, L. M., & Turner, H. (2025). Child maltreatment in youth-serving organizations: A scoping review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.
- Australian Sports Commission. (n.d.). Volunteering.
- Pankowiak, A., Woessner, M. N., Parent, S., Vertommen, T., Eime, R., Spaaij, R., Harvey, J., & Parker, A. G. (2022). Psychological, physical, and sexual violence against children in Australian community sport: Frequency, perpetrator, and victim characteristics. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(3–4), 4338–4365.
- Woessner, M., Pankowiak, A., Kavanagh, E., Parent, S., Vertommen, T., Eime, R., Spaaij, R., Harvey, J., & Parker, A. G. (2024). Telling adults about it: Children’s experience of disclosing interpersonal violence in community sport. Sport in Society, 27(5), 661–680.
- Woessner, M., Parker, A., McLachlan, F., & Pankowiak, A. (2026). The capabilities, opportunities and motivations of sport volunteers to respond to child abuse: Results from a national survey in Australia. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
- Ibid.
- National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse. (2024, October). The Australian child sexual abuse attitudes, knowledge and response study: Report 1—Top line findings.
- Woessner, M., Parker, A., McLachlan, F., & Pankowiak, A. (2026). The capabilities, opportunities and motivations of sport volunteers to respond to child abuse: Results from a national survey in Australia. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
