British Gymnastics is the latest national governing body (“NGB”) in the UK to become embroiled in an athlete welfare controversy in recent months after inquiries into duty of care standards at The Football Association, GB Taekwondo and the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association (“BBSA”).
On 29 June 2020 a group of current and former British gymnasts took to Twitter and other social media platforms to share a joint statement under the hashtag #GymnastAlliance to raise awareness of an ‘abuse culture’ which has been “completely normalised” in gymnastics.
Following publication of the #GymnastAlliance statement, a number of athletes, including current Olympians and senior competitors united to speak out about the physical and psychological abuse they have experienced and witnessed at British Gymnastics as part of a BBC investigation. A common feature amongst the complaints is that whilst British Gymnastics has safeguarding policies in place, ensuring that the policy is adhered to and that the appropriate procedure is followed has not taken place.
Experience suggests the emerging abuse scandal at British Gymnastics is still in its early stages. It is positive that, as more athletes have come forward and external pressures have mounted, British Gymnastics and UK Sport announced a co-commissioned and independent review which will be led by Jane Mulcahy QC. Due to increasing pressures pertaining to impartiality, British Gymnastics have decided to remove itself as an investigative partner for the purposes of the investigation and allow UK Sport to oversee the review. In a joint statement, UK Sport and Sport England said they "welcome and support the decision of British Gymnastics to step aside from the review it announced last week and have agreed to co-commission a fully independent review into the serious concerns raised by gymnasts." The statement added: "We are working closely with key stakeholders, including the British Athletes Commission (BAC) and the Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU), to develop the terms of reference and the structure of the review to ensure it has credibility and the confidence of all of those who have had the courage to come forward."
UK Sport as the funding body of Olympic sport in Britain has given British Gymnastics £16m since 2017 and whilst it is hoped that the inquiry will afford athletes the opportunity to contribute to the independent review there is a perceived fear against speaking out, in case athletes are punished by not being selected for the Tokyo Games. Furthermore, the latest revelations have raised new questions about whether UK Sport has done enough to protect athletes in Olympic and Paralympic sports. Over the past four years, Jess Varnish and other cyclists have alleged sexism and disability discrimination at British Cycling in addition to other concerns raised at BBSA and other sports.
Foreseeably, there will now be a lack of trust in both British Gymnastics and UK Sport irrespective of the investigation’s outcome due to a perceived lack of transparency, early action and support for gymnasts raising concerns. British Gymnastics Chief Executive, Jane Allen has identified that the sheer weight of allegations by gymnasts showed that many felt they could not talk to the sport’s NGB. “It is clear that gymnasts did not feel they could raise their concerns and it is vital that an independent review helps us better understand why so we can remove any barriers as quickly as possible.”
The British Athletes Commission (“BAC”) and NSPCC have joined forces to launch a free helpline. Through the helpline, trained independent NSPCC counsellors will offer confidential support and guidance to children, young people or anyone involved with gymnastics who has safeguarding concerns - whether they are funded athletes, former funded athletes, community-level athletes or parents. The helpline is intended to be a safe space for whistleblowing and will offer athletes the opportunity to contribute into the recently announced Independent Review at the appropriate time. This dedicated helpline is the first component of the newly-established Athlete Support Unit being set up by the BAC following the recent allegations. The Unit will offer full administrative and welfare support to cases referred to it, and will provide end-to-end support to athletes and families affected by the allegations of abuse.
As British Gymnastics and other NGBs struggle to surmount the expansive issues and fallout resulting from the ‘abuse culture’ allegations, it is essential that its child protection and safeguarding systems provide for confidential reporting in order for appropriate action to be undertaken. If that does not happen, the system is fundamentally undermined.
Safeguarding reviews in sport have consistently shown that failures in respect of the reporting of concerns have gone on to have serious consequences. The receipt of reports of child protection and safeguarding concerns by an NGB is crucial; it is only if an NGB is made aware of concerns that it can meet its duty of care obligations and undertake appropriate measures to address the issues including:
- referring concerns to appropriate external agencies and /or the Police (in the UK, a report to a local authority will in general terms be appropriate if it is suspected that a child or adult at risk is being abused or neglected, whereas if a child or adult at risk is in immediate danger the Police should be contacted); and
- responding effectively to concerns within the sport itself (for example, by supporting affected individuals, addressing inappropriate conduct so that it is not repeated and removing individuals from the sport where that is necessary).
Arguably, it should be every NGB’s aim to seek to create and maintain a strong safeguarding culture that encourages the reporting of child protection and safeguarding concerns. A possible step for NGB’s to consider is the introduction of a whistleblowing policy (if one doesn’t already exist) and / or mandatory reporting, by which failing to report an incident would give rise to a disciplinary offence.
Child protection and safeguarding concerns cover a diverse spectrum of severity and include cases of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, and neglect, to less serious instances of 'poor practice' (for example, an ill-judged remark or an isolated breach of a social media policy). However, NGBs must also have reporting provisions in place to deal with all echelons of concerns.
Ideally, NGBs need to get to a stage where:
- participants should want to report matters that cause serious damage to the health and wellbeing of individuals and the sport as a whole;
- reporting is commonplace and ensures that serious misconduct does not go unchecked; and
- reporting is not seen as detrimental to career progression (for example, Olympic squad selection).
Once reporting is commonplace NGBs need to ensure that it has the requisite processes in place to:
- respond substantively and timely to the reports it receives, both in terms of dealing with a possibly increased volume of reports, and in terms of how it treats individual reports (this is an area British Gymnastics have openly been criticised about during the course of the most recent abuse allegations);
- judicious enforcement of any mandatory reporting provisions; and
- the exact scope of the duty that is imposed.
This in turn will undoubtedly result in:
· increased awareness of issues;
· identifying more cases, potentially at an earlier stage;
· imposing more sanctions (where appropriate); and
· creating a higher risk environment (deterrent) for abusers or potential abusers.
Conclusion
The introduction of a whistleblowing policy and / or mandatory reporting in the context of safeguarding in sport is not by any means a straightforward matter. It might be appropriate for some NGBs, but not for others. One NGB might justifiably consider that it has instilled a sufficiently strong safeguarding culture such that child protection and safeguarding concerns are raised as a matter of course, and therefore a specific policy and / or mandatory reporting duty is not necessary. Whereas, another NGB might see a whistleblowing policy and / or mandatory reporting duty as an essential step in most fully addressing child protection and safeguarding issues in its sport, or in a particular area of its sport. For many NGBs the issue of financial resource may restrict its ability to introduce a whistleblowing policy and / or mandatory reporting duty.
However, in all cases, the introduction of a whistleblowing policy and / or mandatory reporting is something that does warrant serious consideration, because history has shown that failures in respect of reporting child protection and safeguarding concerns can have very serious consequences. Irrespective of whether a specific whistleblowing policy and / or mandatory reporting is introduced or not, NGBs should ensure that its reporting procedure is clear, well-publicised, and easily accessible, with appropriate support made available to those making reports. NGBs who do not have these practices in place run the risk of its athletes refusing to engage; British Gymnastics is currently facing a boycott whereby a number of its athletes are refusing to sign new contracts with the NGB until the fundamental safeguarding flaws identified have been addressed.
Brabners has extensive experience of working with both athletes and NGBs in relation to safeguarding and welfare matters; including recently working with British Swimming on behalf of its athletes to fully review and revise all policies and procedures relating to athlete welfare both physical and mental.
If you would like more information on our experience and services please contact Lydia Edgar or Catherine Forshaw
