Chapter 11: Making policy work.

This article reports that effective implementation is the key to reducing harassment and exploitation in sport. The proliferation of anti-harassment and child protection policy statements over recent years in British sport organisations is an indication of growing commitment to the issue. But, looked at more critically, this development has been neither efficient nor effective. This chapter discusses some of the more vexed areas of implementation that continue to concern sport administrators. It is not unusual for policy pioneers to encounter practical difficulties since they have very little in the way of case law to call upon to help to resolve their dilemmas and disputes. Signs and indicators of sexual abuse may be identified from the way athletes look or behave. Many of the measures put in place to manage risks of sexual exploitation in sport are expensive in time and money, and may serve to fan the flames of the moral panic about external sexual threats. Whilst sport administrators should be recommended to observe a clear divide between their responsibilities to refer allegations and the responsibilities of police and social workers to judge such allegations, it is important that the issue of false allegations is also discussed within sport.