The Values Charter for Sport in Ireland

Foreword

This Charter sets out the core values for Sport in Ireland, these are what Sport in Ireland stands for and encapsulates how the Irish population feel and think about sport as a proud sporting nation. They are more than just words on a page, they are for volunteers, officials, participants, competitors, spectators, administrators, communities, and sporting organisations: the sports leaders. To truly live these values, we need to show we believe in them, be seen to live by them and uphold them within our individual sports. Therefore, turning these core values into actions must run through sports leaders, who lead the adoption of these values to create the ethos and culture in their sport. Sports leaders in sport provide a key role in both exemplifying these core values and supporting others to live by them too.

Introduction

Sport, recreational through to professional, is a fundamental part of life. Supporting health and well-being, personal and physical development, as well as employment, enjoyment and different levels of achievement. Irish sport has a national and worldwide reputation for sporting excellence and sport enjoys high levels of public support.

The core values set out here provide an overarching definition of good conduct for everyone involved in any aspect of sport. Most sport involves some element of competitiveness; it is important that everyone participates and competes fairly. The core values are to ensure that we know how to do the right thing, to do the things we should do, not could do, even when ‘no one is looking’: to put the good of the sport above individual gain or benefit.

The Sporting Imperative

The trust placed in our sports leaders, who are essential for sport to work. We must be able to trust the people involved in sport, the organisations that run sport and the integrity of each and every activity. Therefore, everyone involved in sport must understand and live by the core values of Irish Sport, which are operationalised through the National Code of Conduct Template and individual National Governing Bodies’ (NGBs) and Local Sports Partnerships (LSP). The core values of Sport in Ireland define the behaviours required of everyone involved in sport, the good habits, and practices, honed and continually repeated over time.

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit’

Inclusion

Sport should be safe, fun, inclusive and conducted in the spirit of fair play and where everyone can be valued and express themselves through sport.

Silhouettes of people playing with a ball outdoors against a bright blue sky.

Integrity

Integrity is defined as being honest and having strong moral principles. Integrity (a value) is essential to trust (an outcome).

Respect

Respect is fundamental to sport respect towards our own sport, volunteers, officials, participants, competitors, spectators, and the administrators running sport; this includes the sporting environment.

Excellence

The pursuit of excellence applies to all levels of sport. It includes the wellbeing of volunteers, officials, participants, competitors, spectators, and the administrators, and in the way we organise and run it.

Accountability

We are all accountable for our behaviour, for the example we set and our shortcomings. We have the integrity to hold others accountable for their conduct too, and we can, because we should do it to ourselves.

Application

The core values of Sport in Ireland are a package. All five need to be applied together. No one value is any more or less important. Following each value needs us to apply the other four values equally. Together they provide guidance on how to behave in a difficult situation and to do the right thing. NGBs and LSPs should develop and maintain a culture in their organisations that is founded on this Charter: through the example of sports leaders, the implementation of the values and supporting policies and procedures.

Conclusion

The Charter for Sport in Ireland expects commitment from everyone involved in sport, to make sport safe, enjoyable, valued and life-affirming. This involves all of us, whatever our involvement in sport, embracing the core values and incorporating them into every aspect of our sporting lives. They are central to our ethos, provide additional structure to the running of our sports, and underpin the positive role of sport in Ireland. Sports Leaders play an important role in setting and maintaining a culture that embodies these core values: the values we accept define us.