8 ways to stay safe online in sport

People are online every day as part of sporting life. We use team apps, share images in chats and scroll through social media feeds to help us connect with others, but being online comes with risks.

Whether you’re a volunteer, coach, official, competitor or fan, everyone can follow these tips for staying safe online.

On this page:

• Tip 1: Know the risks and impacts
• Tip 2: Set up for safety
• Tip 3: Know your sports rules and policies
• Tip 4: Keep boundaries when communicating with children and young people
• Tip 5: Be mindful when taking and sharing photos and videos
• Tip 6: Manage your digital reputation
• Tip 7: Know how to report serious online abuse
• Tip 8: Champion fair play online
• Real online safety examples and scenarios
• More information

You can take the lead in managing your online safety by regularly reviewing security, privacy and safety settings on your devices and accounts. All apps and platforms are different, so it’s important to review each for:

• conditions of use
• privacy and security settings
• how to report violations and abuse.

Check the The eSafety Guide for information about different social media platforms, messaging services, websites, games and apps.

You can also follow our general advice on how to set up safe online practices for sport, covering communications and use of cameras and recording devices.

You may find these resources helpful too:

• How to have safer online experiences
• Protect your personally identifiable information from identity theft
• Managing your digital safety settings 
• Get help with technology – if you’re new to digital technology, start with the advice on this page.

Your sport organisation is likely to have policies that relate to online safety. They usually outline the standards of behaviour, and what type of conduct is appropriate or not. So it’s a good idea to get familiar with the sport policies that can help guide how you deal with different incidents.

Each sport will be different, but online safety may be covered under policies such as:

• codes of conduct
• integrity
• member protection 
• child safeguarding  
• social media
• privacy
• complaints handling.

Your sport organisation should help you deal with online abuse if it relates to your sport, no matter who it comes from. 

You can also report matters to Sport Integrity Australia if the issue involves children or discrimination, and your sport has adopted the National Integrity Framework.

Safe online communication with children and young people in sport is essential. This includes all interactions by adult coaches, officials, managers, administrators and other members. It’s an important step for preventing online abuse, particularly grooming of children by sexual predators.

Your sport policies and procedures should set out expectations and rules. Refer to them along with this general advice:

• Adopt a two-deep model – make sure to include the organisation and a parent or carer in all electronic or online communication.
• Maintain boundaries on social media – don’t befriend children and young people online.
• Keep your personal details private – if possible, avoid communicating with young members, parents or carers via your personal email address, phone number or social media accounts.
• Manage images and videos appropriately – avoid exchanging personal photos or videos with members and don’t store images of them, or information about them, on your personal devices.

Read some real scenarios about online communication with children and young people, including what to do if something goes wrong.

Visit Sport Integrity Australia’s Resource page and download the Communicating Online or Electronically with Children and Young People Guide for best practice guidance. 

What you say and do online as part of sport matters. Always assume anything you send, post or share can be seen publicly. 

Be mindful you are representatives of your sport and there may be some policies your organisation has set up that you need to follow. It might mean making sure your public interactions such as likes, comments and posts online align with the values of your sport, or avoiding making comments on behalf of your sport organisation without its consent. This will help protect you from online abuse, and the sport from criticism.

Think about the type of content you want to share and avoid.

Content to share can include:

• great sporting moments 
• celebrating and congratulating success
• tips to improve practice and performance
• inspiring others
• reposting and liking positive posts from sporting people’s feeds.

Content to avoid might be:

• anything in the heat of the moment
• liking or supporting negative online commentary
• personally identifying information or private details about you or others
• negative, inflammatory or offensive statements
• information about starting line ups and injuries, as it could be used in betting markets that you may not even be aware are available for your sport.

Read real scenarios about using personal social media accounts, including what to do if something goes wrong.

There’s also more information for adults on our page about digital reputation or more tailored advice for young people.

Experiencing online abuse can have a serious impact on the person targeted. It can affect their mental and physical health and sense of safety, especially if the abuse is ongoing or if harmful content is shared widely. This is why eSafety helps deal with serious forms of harm such as cyberbullying of a child under 18, adult cyber abuse (18 or older) and image-based abuse (sometimes known as ‘revenge porn’ or ‘sextortion’).

Online abuse is not OK and there are steps you can take to deal with it.

Remember, you don’t have to deal with online abuse on your own. It’s a good idea to talk to someone you trust, like a teammate, friend or family member. They can also help you report the abuse.

If you, or someone in your sport, experience online abuse:

Contact your sport organisation for help – they may have policies around online safety in place.

Follow the steps to report serious online abuse:

• Collect evidence – take screenshots of what has happened and where.
• Report it:
  • Harmful posts, comments, messages and profiles should be reported to the online platform or service first. If they don’t help, and the abuse is very serious, report it to eSafety. 
  • Sharing or threatening to share an intimate image or video of you without your consent is image-based abuse – it can be reported to eSafety immediately unless you’re being blackmailed. If you’re being blackmailed, go to our advice on How to deal with sexual extortion.
• Stop contact, tighten your security settings and prevent content from being shared further.
• Get more support – with strategies to manage the impacts of cyberbullying, adult cyber abuse or image-based abuse. You can also find counselling and support services that are right for you.

Find more detailed advice on how to deal with online abuse in sport if this happens to you or a targeted member in your sport.

You can also download and print our quick guides, which include key information and advice:

• Cyberbullying quick guide (available in five languages)
• Adult cyber abuse quick guide (available in more than 10 languages)
• Image-based abuse quick guide.

eSafety has a range of resources for you and your sport organisation to learn more about online safety.

Check out our Key Topics section for more online safety advice, including dealing with fake news and misinformation, and setting up multi-factor authentication to protect your personally identifiable information from identity theft, unwanted or unsafe contact, and how to manage your digital safety settings.