“Talent or potential is often seen as a golden ticket for those sportsmen who are perpetrators of violence against women and girls.”
Claudia Macdonald-Bruce, Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis Director
It’s 2024, and we’re geared up to deliver a knockout blow to gender-based violence in sports, there’s going to be a level playing ground where respect and integrity reign supreme for all women participating, coaching and being a fan of sports.
Last year we had guest writer Miss J, tell us about her campaign to make it mandatory for all sports clubs in Scotland to implement protective regulations against gender-based abuse, with the End Sexual Misconduct in Sport campaign.
We caught up with her to see what she hopes the project will achieve, and how it makes her feel that people are making a change after the work she has done: “I reached out to GCRC after starting the End Sexual Misconduct in Sport campaign. I was already extremely thankful for this organisation as they were fundamental in my support system after my own experiences of sexual violence but, it has been so incredible to see them take such an important matter and start the Fair Play Project to encourage a much-needed culture change in sport,
“Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis are a key source of support for survivors and because of that, they understand the needs of survivors. I think this will hugely benefit the campaign and the work they do with professional teams in terms of training and prevention. Between the work of the Fair Play Project and White Ribbon Scotland, I truly believe we will see a change in awareness and understanding which can inevitably shift that cultural conversation.”
We all value the hard work and dedication that the End Sexual Misconduct in Sport has done since its launch in 2022. But what we now want to see is an expansion of this work being carried out at ground level.
This is where the Fair Play Project comes in.
The Fairplay Project has been designed and is being delivered by women who have the experience and knowledge to effectively support victims and educate participants, fans, and coaches. Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis aims to educate sports clubs and their participants to create a diverse and safe environment in Scottish sports.
In 2022 alone, there were over 150 news articles written about sexual violence in sports. In 50 of those cases, the victims were participants under 18. According to a study from the journal – Interpersonal Violence 2023, adolescents more involved in sports are at a significantly higher risk of being victims of sexual assault compared to those who are not part of sports.
The thing is, there is no one way to tackle gender-based violence in sports. It’s deeper than changing minds, jailing perpetrators, and banning fans for inappropriate behaviour. We have to change the culture of sports. This is no small task, but luckily we sat down with Olivia Mackereth, Training, and Prevention Worker at Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis office to discuss the work they are doing to change the game.
The Fair Play project aims to reach 13-25 year old participating in sports on both an amateur and professional level, to do training, prevention, and skill building to address the issue of gender-based violence within sports: “Our main goal is trying to change the culture in sports, for sports communities to be less misogynistic, to help break down hierarchies. Sport is such a male-dominated arena, that we’re trying to make it an equal and fair place for everyone involved.”
Olivia goes on to explain the long-term goals: “To change attitudes in sports and give young people the skills to identify gender-based violence, how to spot it, how to be active bystanders in their communities and clubs.” They are taking it even further to teach young people how to report this kind of behaviour and how to deal with the trauma and after-effects in a knowledge-informed way,
“The main goal is to give young people a safe space in their sporting communities to identify and tackle gender-based violence.”
The project is National Lottery funded, but it’s also run through the Rosey Project (rape crisis offering support and education to young people) which is an existing project that was established in 2010 to meet the specific needs of young people.
Workshops are focused on young people but the bystander and first responder training is for staff: “Structured focus groups and research with young people informed us that there was a desire to have dedicated resources to deal with the daunting prospect of dealing with the issue at hand. It’s a branch off of the Rosey project, that’s why it’s targeting 13-25 year olds. Despite this, we will also be training staff.” Explains Olivia.
The conditions are quite simple from the funding bodies: “They want us to have trained 100 first responders in the first year. This means training the staff, anyone in a position of power or trust, that a young person might disclose or talk to about something that has happened. This is then to equip them with the tools and knowledge for the next steps. This training comes with the most responsibility,
“The bystander training is for all participants so they can help change that culture and call out inappropriate behaviour. The workshops are for young people to get them talking in a safe space. It’s mixed gender so that everyone is getting the same information and it’s a peer-supported environment.”
The sessions will also be evaluated by the staff running them as well as those taking part.
It’s about giving them a deeper understanding of the social and lived experiences of survivors. It’s about giving them the tools to understand signs. A lot of people in sports groups want to believe that things like that don’t happen, that it’s not an issue in their teams.
Terms like rape crisis, gender-based violence, and sexual violence, bring a heavy connotation that people often shy away from getting involved, taking away from the issue at hand: “I think a lot of people have preconceived ideas of what that looks like, but this is about breaking that stigma and that gender-based violence isn’t just physical. It’s about attitudes and language. Especially helping older people and staff understand this, what signs to look for, and how to deal with it.” Reiterates Olivia.
We’ve seen a lot of high-profile cases in sports recently, discussing gender-based violence. For it to be happening at a higher level it will be found at a grassroots level as well. Statistically, one in three women in Scotland will be a victim of sexual assault. Even in Glasgow, where this program is operating, you have clubs that are the biggest in the country, in ice hockey, rugby, and football. So when fans of sports see players perpetrating these behaviours and getting ‘away’ with it. What’s to stop them from thinking they too, are immune from the consequences?
“Talent often overtakes morality. In sports, it’s worse dealt with. Because they’ll cover it up if you’re good enough.” The startling truth that has come out of Olivia’s research prior to the project’s beginning.
Sports is such an integral part of Scottish culture, especially in Glasgow: “So when you see people you look up to and admire tackling this issue, taking it seriously, not just seeing it as a tick box exercise. Then it will go a long way in influencing young people, especially young men that that’s not okay, that it won’t be okay because the message they are getting just now is – that it is okay. It will be covered up that’s just a part of ‘lad behaviour’ or ‘locker room banter’. If they see their idols dealing with the issue head-on, then of course they’re more likely to think okay well they don’t behave like that, so neither will I.”
Olivia explains that the reaction so far has been really positive. Mostly from universities, colleges, and youth community groups. They are willing to take on the training to better themselves and educate themselves. Sports in Glasgow and Strathclyde are a huge part of the University itself so for them to be taking part and leading the way, means they want to change the direction of sports for the community.
“With the bigger clubs that’s where our challenge is. There are some barriers to accessing them and they can often afford whatever training they want, so our training doesn’t cost them anything but it does mean we’re pushed to the wayside. They will put that barrier up because they don’t want the public to see them doing the training and think there’s an issue within the club. These clubs have existed for such a long time are have people running them who are set in their ways. Making it difficult for us to go in and say okay look you need to change everything you’ve been doing.”
The Fair Play Project has only been going for a few months but already there are promising results, that the people working hard to bring gender-based violence to an end see evolving from a taboo topic to the norm.
Don’t worry we’ll be checking in with the team shortly to see how they are getting on. If you’d like to follow the journey as it’s happening you can follow them on Instagram.
If you’ve been affected by anything discussed in this article please know there are people out there who want to help you, because nobody regardless of gender, sexual identity or age nobody should be a victim of abuse.
To find help through Rape Crisis Scotland you can find more here.
If you are looking to report a crime, there is more information on Police Scotland’s website about how best to deal with it.
