Officiating in sport

The Workforce Development Unit will support peak sporting bodies, active recreation organisations, regional councils and other stakeholders develop and implement their organisations officiating development strategies.

Organisations seeking financial support to develop whole of sport strategies for casual, committed and leadership volunteer/helpers should review the Workforce Development Grants and contact the Workforce Development Unit to discuss their needs.

For individual volunteer officials the Workforce Development Unit will be providing learning and development sessions that complement their sport specific skills.

Online resources

Casual helper volunteer (informal volunteer/helpers) officials

Community Officiating General Principles course is offered by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) at no cost. The course has been developed to assist officials in learning the basic skills they will need to officiate effectively.

30 Basics of Officiating - Referee.com some of the basics required when officiating.

Play by the Rules - tips for officials can help create a positive sporting environment and promote positive environments by being good role models.

Committed helper volunteer (formal volunteer/helpers) officials

Clearinghouse for Sport brings together Australia’s leading sport and active recreation agencies – using the Australian Sports Commission as the principal information coordination point – to share news, evidence and insights about sport and human
performance.

Referee is a USA based site designed to assist a wide range of sports officials with news articles and resources.

Officiating Collective is an organisation that provides support, education and training, and professional development to all sports officials at various stages of their development pathway. This is a pay for service website.

Contact

For more information on officiating, call 08 8922 6819 or email NTSA.WorkforceDevelopment@nt.gov.au.

Officials code of behaviour

Officiating is challenging. Officials need to be of strong character. Officials should be aware that their approach to officiating can influence the athlete’s experience and enjoyment of the sport.

Officials are increasingly facing ethical issues- harassment in sport, and match fixing. Officials can be subject to criticism, abuse and harassment. Officials can also have enormous influence over athletes, coaches and others in a game or event. Issues such as sportsmanship, injury, cheating, bullying, abuse of power and harassment have all become a part of sport.

All sports have a code of behaviour for coaches, players, spectators/parent and officials. It is important that officials are aware of their sport's code of behaviour and abide by it at all times.

Accepting a code of behaviour supports the sport's values of trust, honesty, responsibility, respect, safety, professionalism and equity.

For sport's that do not have their own Official code of behaviour, the following behaviours can be used to develop your own:

The Australian Sports Commission’s national code of behaviour for officials

Operate within the rules and spirit of your sport, promoting fair play over winning at any cost.
Encourage and support opportunities for people to learn appropriate behaviours and skills.
Support opportunities for participants in all aspects of sports.
Treat each person as an individual.
Display control and courtesy to all involved with the sport.
Respect the rights and worth of every person regardless of their gender, ability, cultural background or religion.
Respect the decision of officials, coaches and administrators in the conduct of sport.
Whenever practical, avoid unaccompanied and unobserved one-on-one activity (when in a supervisory capacity or where a power imbalance will exist) with people under the age of 18 years.
Adopt appropriate and responsible behaviour in all interactions.
Adopt responsible behaviour in relation to alcohol and other drugs.
Act with integrity and objectivity, and accept responsibility for your decisions and actions.
Ensure your decisions and actions contribute to a safe environment
Ensure your decisions and actions contribute to a harassment-free environment.
Do not tolerate harmful or abusive behaviours.
Place the safety and welfare of the athletes above all else.
Be consistent and impartial when making decisions.
Address unsporting behaviour and promote respect for all people.

Officiating children

An official needs to be aware of the requirements of the sports’ youth policy that is in place and local state or Territory laws. The youth sport policy may refer to different rules or laws for youth participants in the sport, different procedures relating to safety for youth participants and other aspects about the inclusion of youth participants.

Tips for working with children

There are actions an official can take to ensure children feel safe and protected when participating in sport. These include;

Use positive and acceptable language when talking about or to a child.
Develop a calm behaviour-management style.
Avoid any physical contact with children.
Avoid situations in which an adult may be alone with a child.
When children need to be transported, ensure there is more than one child (and , if possible, more than one adult) in the vehicle.
Manage allegations (disclosures) of child abuse through established processes and reporting lines to ensure there is due process and natural justice.
Document all incidents involving physical restraint of children or violence involving children.
Document all incidents that seem to be unusual or ‘out of the ordinary’.
Encourage children to be a ‘good sport’, to recognize that they have a right to feel safe, and know what they can do if they do not feel safe (if they are abused, harassed or discriminated against).

Child Protection

Reporting Child Abuse