Rationale
PONRPJFC has a zero tolerance approach to bullying and harassment, whether on-field or off-field. All club members have the right of respect from others at the Club and the right to play and enjoy football while feeling safe and secure.
Policy Statement
To create a safe and respectful club environment and prevent bullying and harassment, PONRPJFC will promote and support a safe and respectful environment where bullying or harassment is not tolerated.
Definition of Bullying
Bullying is when people repeatedly and intentionally use words or actions against someone or a group of people to cause distress and risk to their wellbeing. These actions are usually done by people who have more influence or power over someone else, or who want to make someone else feel less powerful or helpless.
Bullying is not the same as conflict between people (like having a fight) or disliking someone, even though people might bully each other because of conflict or dislike.
The following repeated behaviours can be considered bullying:
- Keeping someone out of a group (online or offline)
- Acting in an unpleasant way near or towards someone
- Giving nasty looks, making rude gestures, calling names, being rude and impolite, and constantly negative teasing.
- Spreading rumours or lies, or misrepresenting someone (i.e. using their Facebook account to post messages as if it were them)
- Mucking about that goes too far
- Harassing someone based on their race, sex, religion, gender or a disability
- Intentionally and repeatedly hurting someone physically
- Intentionally stalking someone
- Taking advantage of a position of power or rank to denigrate someone or put them down.
Bullying can happen anywhere. It can be in schools, at home, at work, in online social spaces, via text messaging or via email. It can be physical, verbal, emotional, and it also includes messages, public statements and behaviour online intended to cause distress or harm (also known as cyberbullying). But no matter what form bullying takes, the results can be the same: severe distress or pain for the person being bullied.
What bullying is not
Many distressing behaviours are not examples of bullying even though they are unpleasant and often require intervention and management.
- Mutual conflict: involves an argument or disagreement between people but not an imbalance of power. Both parties are upset and usually both want a resolution. Unresolved mutual conflict can develop into bullying if one of the parties targets the other repeatedly in retaliation.
- Social rejection or dislike: is not bullying unless it involves deliberate and repeated attempts to cause distress, exclude or create dislike by others.
- Single‐episode acts of nastiness or physical aggression are not the same as bullying. If someone is verbally abused or pushed on one occasion they are not being bullied. Nastiness or physical aggression that is directed towards many different people is not the same as bullying. However, this does not mean that single episodes of nastiness or physical aggression should be ignored or condoned as these are unacceptable behaviours.
Reporting of bullying or harassment
The Club urges anyone who observes or is the target of bullying or harassment to report it immediately to a Team or Club official (Coach, Team Manager, Assistant Coach or Committee member) for the appropriate escalation and action.
Specific details of the matter should also be emailed by the person reporting the incident, or their parents, to childsafetyofficer@sharksjfc.org.au.
The Child Safety Officer, or in their absence a Committee Member, will make contact with the member and their parents to investigate the concern / incident and determine what action is required.