The use of sports management apps is rapidly growing in community sport. These platforms help clubs manage registrations, fixtures, game statistics and team communications. While they offer convenience, they also introduce serious child safeguarding risks that every sport must be aware of.
This National Child Protection Week (NCPW), Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) is calling on sport organisations, parents and carers to stay alert and informed about how to better protect children and young people from potential online abuse, particularly through public-facing profiles on sports management apps.
With this year’s NCPW theme focusing on shifting conversation to action, there’s no better time to take steps that will better protect children and young people in sport.
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Why this matters
Children have the right to feel safe and have their personal information protected. As digital tools become embedded in sport, it’s critical that clubs, associations, and administrators understand the risks and take action to mitigate them.
Australia is strengthening online protections through recent legislative changes, including:
- Children’s Online Privacy Code (implementation due by December 2026)
- Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 (effective December 2025).
These changes will have implications for how sporting organisations manage children’s data and digital interactions.
The benefits and risks
We recognise organisations rely on sports management apps to help ease the administrative pressure on volunteers, staff, coaches and officials. We also see a number of potential risks to children and young people with the use of these apps.
Key risks:
- Public access to player profiles, photos and match locations.
- Potential for grooming and exploitation through shared interests.
- Exposure of children under protection orders or in care.
- AI manipulation of images for harmful purposes.
- Unmonitored chat features between children and adults.
- Increased vulnerability for children with disabilities.
- Weak privacy settings and potential data breaches.
Case study: Default public profiles in a sports management app
A popular sports management app used in Australia was found to have user profiles set to public by default, including those of children. This meant that names, game statistics and teams were visible and searchable with the app. While users could manually change their settings to private, many were unaware of the default visibility, potentially exposing personal information without informed consent.
The sport’s governing body took steps to address the issue by:
- publishing guidance on how participants and parents could update privacy settings for themselves and their children
- clarifying visibility risks in public communications, including app FAQs and support articles
- reinforcing their commitment to protecting personal information and child safety through updated messaging and support resources.
This case highlights the importance of:
- defaulting to privacy in app design
- educating users about visibility settings
- ensuring child safety is prioritised in digital platforms used by sports organisations.
What parents and clubs can do
Parents need to remember their child’s profile isn’t just statistics – it’s personal data.
— SIA Acting Head of Sport Engagement, Lisa Purves
“The use of these apps is not just about recording goals scored or attendance,” said SIA Acting Head of Sport Engagement, Lisa Purves.
“While our busy lives can be made that little bit easier by accessing information from the device in your hand, ask yourself: are you comfortable with strangers having that same information about your child?
“With tech-based abuse becoming more prevalent, we need to take responsibility for the information we make available,” Lisa said.
With the 2025 NCPW theme focusing on shifting conversation to action, it’s a good reminder to explore what can physically be done to support safer environments for children and minimise the risk of harm.
When it comes to sport management apps, the first step is ensuring users are aware of what information is being collected. Parents and/or carers may assume their child’s profile needs to be public, but in many cases, profiles can be set to private.
Other tips:
- Encourage parents to talk to their child about online privacy and safety.
- Restrict access to personal information and match locations.
- Educate your sport community on responsible app use.
- Activate available features to limit who can access player information.
- Encourage senior leadership to engage app developers to prioritise child safety.
- Educate staff, volunteers, parents, caregivers and children and young people about your sport’s Code of Conduct, Privacy and Social Media policies in using the apps responsibly using available resources.
- Access resources from experts in child safety and digital wellbeing.
Learn more
Register now for SIA’s upcoming webinar on Tech-Based Abuse in Sport – Exploitation. Learn to identify harmful behaviours such as grooming, unwanted contact, and doxing, and understand how these can impact the safety and wellbeing of athletes, especially children and young people.
This session is designed to equip sports administrators, coaches, and parents with practical tools to safeguard their communities and take action against online abuse.
Hear more about sport management apps and child safety from SIA’s Acting Head of Sport Engagement, Lisa Purves, in the video below.