What is abusive behaviour?
Every person in sport, in every role, has the right to participate in an environment that is fun, safe, and healthy, and to be treated with respect, dignity and fairness. All forms of harassment, vilification, and abuse, be it physical, professional, or sexual, and inflicting, facilitating, or tolerating any non-accidental physical or mental injuries, are strictly prohibited by FIBA and can result in penalties and punishments.
Forms of abusive behaviour:
Verbal abuse
Slandering, ridiculing, bullying, gossiping, or defaming someone
Persistent name calling, which is hurtful, insulting, or embarrassing
Chronic teasing, belittlement, or frequent criticism that undermines the victim’s ability to perform
Nonverbal abuse
Threatening gestures, actions, or glances
Shunning, excluding, or disregarding a person
Offensive depictions of another through a visual medium such as a drawing
Mimicking another in an offensive manner
Psychological abuse
Any treatment that may diminish the sense of identity, dignity, or self-worth
Unwelcome act of confinement, isolation, humiliation or patronisation
Intentionally leaving someone unattended when they need assistance
Failure to respect privacy
Physical abuse
Non-accidental violence towards a player or other person
Pushing, punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning or otherwise harming a player
Age-inappropriate or physique-inappropriate training loads
Forced alcohol consumption
Systematic doping practices
Damaging another’s property
Sexual abuse
Conduct of a sexual nature where consent is coerced/manipulated or is not or cannot be given
Inappropriate looking, sexual teasing or sexual harassment
Sexual photography or forced use of pornography or witnessing of sexual acts
Indecent exposure
Rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault
Cyber abuse
Targeting another using social media, email, instant messaging, text messaging, or any other type of digital technology
Tormenting, threatening, cyber-bullying, harassing, or embarrassing using digital technology
Bullying and Hazing
Bullying is deliberately hurting a specific person either physically, verbally, psychologically, or socially. It can happen anywhere, and it can include messages, public statements and behaviour online intended to cause distress or harm. Furthermore, it can involve a real or perceived power imbalance. Bullying can occur both on and off the court and can involve players, parents, coaches, spectators, or officials.
Hazing is any action taken or any situation created intentionally that causes embarrassment, harassment or ridicule and risks emotional and/or physical harm to members of a group or team, whether new or not, regardless of the person’s willingness to participate. More than half of the players in college have experienced hazing.
A person, especially a child, may not always ask for support when suffering bullying or hazing. They may feel afraid, ashamed, or embarrassed and that the person they tell will think they are weak. Players, parents, coaches, administrators, and sporting organisations all have an ethical (and possibly a legal) responsibility to take action to prevent bullying and hazing occurring in sport and manage it, should it occur.
Sexual Harrasement
Sexual harassment means unwanted and unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature, whether verbal, non-verbal, or physical. This form of harassment may be intended or unintended and legal or illegal. It happens in all sports and at all levels, with an increased risk at the elite level.
The underlying aspect of sexual harassment is that it is based upon an abuse of power and trust and that is considered by the victim or a bystander to be unwanted or coerced. In sport, sexual abuse often involves manipulation and entrapment of the athlete. The physical and psychological consequences of sexual harassment and abuse are significant for the athlete, their team and for the health and integrity of sport in general.
Often perpetrators of sexual harassment are in positions of power such as coaches and other members of athletes' entourage. However, coaches are not the only perpetrators. In fact, peer athletes harass athletes more than coaches. While it is expected and seen that more males than females are perpetrators, this could be due to the larger percentage of males in positions of power in sport. In fact, it is not solely males who are the perpetrators. For example, a recent study exploring sexual harassment of females in sport, has found that 34% of women had experienced sexual harassment from men and 12% from women.
Sexual harassment takes time to happen. Grooming is a precursor to sexual approaches and involves building trust, gradually pushing back the boundaries of acceptable behaviour, and slowly violating more and more personal space through verbal familiarity, emotional blackmailing, and physical touching. Often there are early signs in the relationship between the coach and player of the potential for abuse to occur.
Abusive behaviour in social media
Technology has been responsible for many advances in modern sport, helping us share, learn, and communicate more effectively. Use of social media platforms has led a range of benefits for sport and recreation clubs, but with that has come inevitable issues. (see further: Social Media)
Common social media issues
Cyberbullying
The use of digital technology to threaten, menace, harass, and humiliate an individual or group. In sport, cyberbullying may look like online racism, targeted threats, intimidation to team members and opposition players, coaches, and teams, defaming of referees, coaches, management, or unsubstantiated claims of drug-taking or favouritism.
Image-based abuse
Known colloquially as ‘revenge porn’ or the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, is another harmful online activity which can affect players.
Other social media abuses may include cyber abuse, offensive or illegal content, sexting, unwanted contact, social engineering, and social networking.
Reporting social media abuse
Keep record
Take screenshots or photos of the cyberbullying content
Save or record evidence of the webpage addresses (URLs) or social media services where the content has been shared
Always record the time and date
Report & block
Report it to the platform where it took place
Use the platform or device settings to block the person
Make a complaint
If you are under 18 years old, you can report seriously threatening, intimidating, harassing or humiliating online behaviour to your local authorities
Check with an adult and with your National Federation for help
Reporting and Retaliation
Anyone with knowledge of abusive conduct (not only the person suffering it) has the right and moral obligation to notify and formally complain. You can report the abusive conduct to:
Your club’s HR
Your National Federation
Your entourage (e.g. family, agent, Players’ Mentor, etc.)
FIBA (safeguarding@fiba.basketball)
If the conduct threatens safety, contact the police.
Organisations prohibit anyone from retaliating against those who report, resist, or speak out against abusive conduct. They further prohibit retaliation against anyone who participates in an investigation regarding abusive conduct, or who supports others in their efforts to report, resist, or speak out against abusive conduct. Anyone with knowledge of retaliation has a right to notify and formally complain.