Violence and sexual assault in sports are still taboo topics. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner has now launched a campaign for more protection in sport. A starting signal for more safety in our clubs.
Teammates are the most common source of violence against children and young people in sports. This also applies to sexual violence, whether it is physical violence or not,” says Rosa Diketmüller of the Institute of Sports Science at the University of Vienna. The doctor presented a startling study on the “Safety in Sport” forum: 70 percent of the 1,472 respondents between the ages of 18 and 30 said they had experienced at least one form of violence in sport.
“Team attacks most common”
Men are two to three times more likely to be perpetrators. However: It’s not just male coaches who use violence against an athlete. “Attacks by teammates were mentioned most often,” Diketmüller says, “wasn’t paid attention to it for far too long.”
That is why Interior Minister Karner (ÖVP) now wants to devote more space to the taboo topic within the executive: “More than two million Austrians are members of a sports club. With the new forum, we want to make an important contribution to ensure that sports clubs are safe places and that athletes are protected from all forms of violence.” Technical contributions from Andreas Holzer and Manuel Scherscher, Director and Deputy Director of the Federal Criminal Court Police Station , it turned out that the message from the minister has already arrived.
Judo trainers need proof of good behavior
Martin Poiger, Secretary General of the European Judo Union, is also on track to improve the situation. Because after the unfortunate sexual assault of the two-time Olympic judo champion and convicted club president Peter Seisenbacher (62) – he will be released in November after five years – a new set of rules will be introduced: judo trainers in Austria must now show proof of good behavior.
As a conference visitor, there was also a remarkable response from our football team principal, Ralf Rangnick, when asked if he felt safe playing home games: “I told the players: concentrate on your work on the pitch. we trust the police.”
Also gambling fraud and manipulation problem
In addition to the long-running issue of violence in sport, the conference at Göttweig Abbey in Lower Austria also addressed the explosive topics of match fixing, gambling fraud and cybersecurity. In short: safety in sport at all levels.
Source: Krone
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