The Sunshine Coast’s largest sporting organisation has launched a new initiative designed to stop abuse directed towards umpires.
The Sunshine Coast Netball Association, which has 190 game officials aged 10 and over, has implemented its Respect 4 Umpires (R4U) program after a spate of ugly incidents.
They’ve gained the support of many local businesses and high-profile personalities, including players from Super Netball team Sunshine Coast Lightning.
Club spokesperson and a key driver of the R4U initiative Debbie Battaglini said an unsavoury incident last year put a spotlight on disrespect and abuse directed towards umpires, which led the association to develop its R4U initiative.
“Sadly, it’s something that happens all too often across many sporting codes and clubs with umpires being abused and disrespected and it’s just not on,” she said.
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“We will not stand by and let this continue to happen so we created the Respect 4 Umpires initiative to change the behaviour of spectators, players and coaches towards umpires.
“Everyone deserves respect, and we’ll make sure the umpires get it.
“SCNA hosts 10,000 games of netball a year with over 60,000 spectators and every single one of those games needs an umpire.
“We are working hard to ensure every umpire, as well as members and guests of our club, feels safe and respected here, and we won’t tolerate anyone who doesn’t follow the values and rules of our association.”
The head coach of national league team Sunshine Coast Lightning, Belinda Reynolds, said respect was at the core of the game.
“I think we have such great role models in our sport because we are so respected in the community and that is the way we play the game – we respect our opposition, we respect our officials, umpires included,” she said.
SCNA umpire convenor Gabby Parker recently attended the Coaches and Umpires Conference run by Netball Queensland, where umpire disrespect was a hot topic but without a solution.
“There’s been a lot of talk about this issue but until our R4U initiative, the answer has always been to just build the resilience of umpires,” she said.
“It’s always been a given that disrespect comes with the territory but it shouldn’t be.
“Isn’t it time we all did better?”
The R4U initiative is a combination of awareness, education and on-the-ground support in the form of dedicated welfare officers in white hi-vis watching over the games.
“Umpires will be given white flags and they can raise them if they feel they are being disrespected,” Ms Parker said.
“Welfare officers will then come to the aid of the umpires waving a white flag and will diffuse the situation and go through the complaints and warning process if required.
“We’ve also created a compelling video that shows the real story of a young umpire being disrespected and the impact that had on her.
“I think people can get swept up in the competition, forgetting that umpires are people with feelings too and so we hope that through this video and our educational resources, we can change perceptions and behaviour.”
As part of the launch event, the SCNA arranged for a team-building exercise with Rhythm Culture that symbolised a strengthening of the netball village by rolling out the Respect 4 Umpires initiative.
Ms Battaglini said the R4U initiative was rolled out at the SCNA on March 4 and it will continue throughout the netball season.
“It’s starting here at SCNA this March but we hope to see our program roll out across all clubs and even all sporting codes because we believe everyone deserves respect and we’ve developed a clear way to remind and enforce respectful behaviour,” she said.
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