Respectful complaint processes in sport

When people make complaints in sport, it’s important to be fair, objective and empathetic. Most people who raise concerns engage reasonably and in good faith.

However, sometimes a person's behaviour may become unreasonable, which can have major impact on an organisation's staff, services, time and resources.

It can also impact the complaints process itself, and the complainant's wellbeing.

The following information – which includes a guide and tip sheets – has been developed in collaboration with the NSW Ombudsman and Australian Sports Commission.

It is for people in sport who manage complaints and provides practical strategies, tools and real-life scripts to try and encourage respectful complaint processes.

It’s behaviour by people involved in a complaints process that, because of its nature or frequency, raises substantial health, safety, resource or equity issues for those involved and hinders or prevents an appropriate resolution.

Examples can include:

• Becoming abusive, threatening or violent
• Contacting a sport repeatedly and excessively
• Providing false information or refusing to cooperate with the proper process
• Demanding outcomes that are impossible or not practicable.

Why it’s important to manage

Unreasonable conduct is rare and occurs in about 3-5% of complaints cases, but managing these matters can take up to 25-30% of an organisation’s complaint-handling resources.

It’s important to manage time and resources in a way that ensures all individuals can access timely and appropriate support.

Managing unreasonable complainant conduct has benefits for organisations, staff, sport and complainants.

• Fairness – a consistent approach improves efficiency and gives all participants fair and equal access to your organisation’s time and resources
• Wellbeing – the right training, supervision and support helps protect the wellbeing of all involved and minimises staff stress
• Efficient outcomes – complaint investigations that are drawn out by unreasonable conduct can be harder to resolve
  • These are less likely to end well and can damage relationships within sport.

Guide and tip sheets for sports

Drawing on the expertise of the NSW Ombudsman, we’ve developed a guide with practical advice, strategies and real-life scripts for people who manage complaints in sport.

While this information tries to provide various strategies for complaint management, each case should be treated individually and sensitively.

Effective complaint management relies on fair, proportionate and trauma-informed processes from the start.

The most important thing to remember when dealing with unreasonable conduct is to approach each interaction with empathy and consider what might be causing the person’s behaviour.

The behaviour could be a response to stress, distress or past experiences. 

Take time to listen, work with them to understand and identify next steps, and offer support where possible.

• Find mental health and wellbeing resources on the Sport Integrity Australia website
• For more information on managing unreasonable complainants, visit the NSW Ombudsman’s website