Summary

All the groups are very likely to have been harmed from these types of experiences. There would very likely be an impact on the children's health, development and well being as well as parents' trust in the sport. There would also very likely be an impact on sport's reputation and sponsorship, reduce community support, and continuing negative press coverage which can negatively affect the sport's image.

Are talented athletes or players more at risk of suffering abuse or violence?

Research shows that sport is not free from the problem of abuse or violence. It's also clear that the risk of abuse rises as a athletes or players progresses up the talent ladder and that children themselves can also cause harm to other children, especially bullying, but also peer-to-peer sexual harassment and abuse. 

This suggests that what we see in the news is only ‘the tip of an iceberg’.

The failure to safeguard not only hurts individuals, but it can also undermine the growth of your sport and its integrity. We all need to think about how to put safeguarding at the centre of what we do in sport.