The Management of Harassment and Abuse in Sports: A European Investigation of the Experts’ Opinions

Abstract

The current study explored sports administrators’ perspectives on the management of harassment and abuse in sports and assembled them into issues that raise awareness and understanding of the factors that impinge on the promotion of healthy sports environments. Transcription, description, and analysis of standardized focus group discussions (FGD) involving key stakeholders and policymakers in five European countries using standardized questioning routes were carried out. The results pointed towards a lack of education and dissemination of relevant information, an absence of specific to sports legislation, an inexistent Code of Ethics, and the absence of mechanisms, for reporting perpetrators and supporting victims. The current recruitment strategies of sports personnel were also identified as obstacles that impinge the promotion of safe sports. The consistency of the findings across five European countries suggests that we have identified some key dimensions which impose the prevention of harassment and abuse in sports. which may consequently also help in understanding policy implementation failure.