Athletes - Codes of Conduct

Athlete should always

1. Treat sports leaders, coaches and club officials with respect.
2. Treat all other athletes as you would like to be treated.
3. Respect club-mates even when things go wrong.
4. Respect competitors and be gracious in defeat.
5. Compete fairly at all times and do your best.

Athlete should never

- Intimidate, use physical contact that is not welcome
- Shout at or argue with another person unreasonably
- Cause harm to or damage property
- Bully or threaten another person online or offline
- Spread or circulate rumours online or offline about another person
- Tell lies

Parents - Codes of Conduct

Parents of Athletes

1. Respect the rules in the Athletics Ireland’s Code of Ethics for Children in Sport.
2. Respect your child’s club-mates, coaches and other parents.
3. Encourage your child to treat other participants, coaches and officials with respect.
4. Never demonstrate threatening behaviour or use foul language.
5. Never ridicule, humiliate or shout at young athletes
6. Recognise the value and importance of volunteers and coaches.

Coaches - Codes of Conduct

All coaches involved with children and young should:

1. Consider the wellbeing and safety of participants before the development of performance.
2. Develop an appropriate working relationship with members, based on mutual trust and respect.
3. Make sure all activities are appropriate to the age, ability and the experience of the athlete
4. Promote the positive aspects of the sport (e.g. fair play)
5. Display consistently high standards of behaviour.
6. Follow all guidelines laid down by the National Governing Body
7. Never exert undue influence over participants to gain personal benefit or reward.
8. Never condone rule violations or the use of prohibited substances.
9. Encourage participants to value their performances and not just results.
10. Encourage and guide participants to accept responsibility for their own performance and behaviour.
11. Never use foul or inappropriate language.
12. Never engage in any form of sexual relations with anyone under the age of 18, or vulnerable adults.
13. Do use a group email system for communicating with parents/guardians & coaches of athletes.
14. Do not communicate individually by social media, text or email with juvenile athletes
15. Do not engage in communications with underage athletes individually via personal social network sites.
16. Always use official squad group text or social media sites to communicate with juvenile athletes.
17. A coach should under no circumstance undermine the efforts of an athlete’s personal coach and/or attempt to ‘poach’ an athlete witin a squad environment.

CODE OF CONDUCT BREACHES

All partcipants (Coaches/Selectors/Assistants, Supporters, Parents/ Guardians, Referees/Officials, Clubs and other personnel) must not:

- Shout, argue, abuse physically or verbally referees/officials, at any 􀀘me.
- Shout, argue, abuse physically or verbally partcipants, supporters, parents guardians, or any other partcipant at any time.
- Shout at or argue with their coach, partcipants or opponents.
- Use violence towards partcipants, coaches, officials, opponents, or supporters.
- Use unfair or bullying tactcs to gain advantage or isolate other partcipants.
- Use unacceptable language or racial and/or sectarian or homophobic references towards a partcipant, an opponent, coach, official or supporter by words, deeds, or gestures.
- Use foul language or provocatve language/gestures or behaviour towards any partcipant, coach, referee/official or supporter.
- Use any other forms of abuse.
- Lose their temper.
- Abuse, threaten or intmidate a referee/official/partcipant/volunteer, on or off the sportng environment.
- Do anything which is likely to intmidate, offend, insult, humiliate or discriminate against any other person on the ground of their gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientaton, age, disability, race, religion, and membership of the Traveller community.
- Ridicule or scold a partcipant for making a mistake during the sport or competiton.
- Use social media to abuse partcipants, opponents, coaches, referees/officials, volunteers or other individuals.
- Use social media or social media apps for the distributon of offensive content, to taunt, bully
or racially abuse others.
- Use social media to implicate or undermine partcipants, opponents, coaches,
referees/officials, volunteers or other individuals.
- Publish or cause to be published critcism of the way or any other club/organisaton/committee handled or resolved any dispute or disciplinary matter resultng from a breach of the code of conduct or rules of the sport.
- Behave or act in any way that infringes the rules of the sport or that seeks to gain an unfair
advantage.
- Aggressively challenge a referees/officials decision or integrity.
- Enter, before, during or alter the sportng environment in which the sport is being conducted, unless authorised to do so.
- Berate your own child or any other child for their standard of play.
- Embarrass a child or use sarcastic remarks towards a player, official, volunteer or other individuals involved in your sport.
- Undertake any other unsportng like behaviour.

SELF- DECLARATIONS

REPORTING & SANCTIONS

All partcipants (Coaches/Selectors/Assistants, Supporters, Parents/ Guardians, Referees/Officials, Clubs and other personnel) must not:

Participants, Coaches, Supporters, Parents/Guardians, Referees/Officials & Clubs should report breaches of the code of conduct to the appropriate person or committee within the club or organisation, as per the reporting/complaints procedure.

Any breaches of the above-mentioned points within the code of conduct will be investigated by the relevant club/organisation/committee and/or National Governing Body and disciplinary proceedings in respect of a breach shall be conducted in accordance with the club/organisation/committee and/or National Governing Bodies disciplinary procedures set out in their policies and procedures.

The following is a short list of recommended sanctions, for consideration by the responsible club/ organisation/committee and/or National Governing Body.

- A caution, a warning as to future conduct, or a reprimand
- A monetary fine
- The requirement to replay the sport at such time and at such venue as is thought fit
- The forfeiture of, and/or the granting to another club or clubs, the competition points
- The banning of club supporters from an event
- The suspension or expulsion, in part or in full, of the club, player or person for such period as may be deemed appropriate
- Such other penalty or sanction as may be deemed appropriate

Any breaches of conduct set out in the code of conduct will be investigated by the club/committee/ National Governing Body involved. Disciplinary proceedings in respect of any breach shall be conducted in accordance with the disciplinary procedures.

Conduct giving rise to an alleged breach of the code of conduct shall be reviewed accordingly at the time the alleged breach occurred. The applicable disciplinary procedure shall be that in effect at the time the disciplinary action is commenced. Incidents of alleged criminal behaviour or suspected criminal behaviour should be reported to the relevant authorities.