The Australian Football League has released a policy titled “Respect and Responsibility – Creating a safe and inclusive environment for women at all levels of Australian football”. AFL Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Demetriou, said the release of the policy was the culmination of many months of work by a committed group of experts from a range of fields including women’s policy, policing, the law, discrimination, equal opportunity and public health.
Victoria’s Minister for Women’s Affairs, Mary Delahunty, participated in the policy launch during which it was also announced that the AFL and VicHealth had established a partnership to implement the policy.
Mr. Demetriou said the policy had been developed by a Working Group convened on the AFL’s behalf by Professor Jenny Morgan, Deputy Dean, The Law School, University of Melbourne. The Working Group was established in June last year following a range of allegations about the treatment of women by AFL players, past and present. Other sporting competitions in Australia and overseas faced similar allegations.
Key elements of the policy, which was developed in conjunction with the Victorian Government’s Statewide Committee to Reduce Sexual Assault and Office of Women’s Policy are:
- Introduction of model anti-sexual harassment and anti-sexual discrimination procedures across the AFL and its 16 Clubs.
- Development of organisational policies and procedures to ensure a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for women.
- Changes to AFL rules relating to conduct unbecoming which cover the specific context of allegations of sexual assault.
- Education of AFL players and other club officials with avenues for dissemination of the program to the community level being explored.
- The dissemination of model policies and procedures at the community club level.
- Development of a public education campaign.
Mr. Demetriou said traditionally, responsibility for addressing sexual assault had fallen largely to the criminal justice and social services systems, where intervention was understandably focused after violence had occurred. “More recently, women’s groups and services have been successful in putting the prevention of sexual assault on the broader social policy agenda. This has led to increasing recognition that creating safe and supportive environments for women is a shared responsibility of individuals, organizations, communities and governments, “ Mr. Demetriou said.
“As an organisation with a strong emphasis on community and social responsibility, the AFL wants to work with government and other groups to contribute to this broader social policy agenda in all States and Territories. “The position of the AFL and our Clubs is quite clear -- we find any form of violence towards women abhorrent and we support moves by government and other community-based organisations to eliminate violence or the potential for violence,” he said.
Mr. Demetriou said the AFL’s Working Group would continue to provide advice on the implementation of the policy. He also announced that Dr. Melanie Heenan, Co-ordinator and Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault and Dr. Michael Flood, a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at LaTrobe University had agreed to join the Working Group.
Mr. Demetriou said the AFL’s partnership with VicHealth was for the next two years during which the policy would be implemented in the AFL and at other levels of community football. “VicHealth has played a significant role in the development of our policy and their expertise will be invaluable to us as we implement the policy,” Mr. Demetriou said. Dr. Rob Moodie, Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation said violence against women by their partners was the largest cause of preventable ill-health and death for Victorian women aged 15 to 45.
“The most obvious results of this violence are when women are murdered or commit suicide. Unfortunately, most of the suffering is hidden and expresses itself as chronic depression, anxiety and alcohol and drug abuse,” Dr. Moodie said. “Violence against women costs Australia $8.1 billion a year however the cost to women, children and the fabric of our society is immeasurable. “This is not just a public health issue. It is a human rights issue, it is a legal issue and it is an issue that must be addressed by all of us if we want to claim that we live in a just, healthy and civil society,” he said.
Dr. Moodie is also Chair of the Premier’s Drug Prevention Council and was recently named 2005 Victorian Father of the Year. VicHealth has been working with sports to promote health for 18 years. VicHealth has a very strong commitment to promoting mental health and wellbeing, with a reduction in violence and discrimination being central to this work.
