Sports governing body responses to coach-athlete violence in Finland and the UK

Abstract This article considers interpersonal violence committed by coaches towards athletes, scrutinising responses by sports national governing bodies (NGBs) in Finland and the UK. We take a wide view of the issue considering it from the perspective of both child and adult victims and adopting a definition which encompasses all forms of physical, emotional and sexual violence, recognising its multifaceted nature. We situate NGB responses to coach-athlete violence within their obligations under the framework of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), focusing our critique how NGBs define coach-athlete violence, their educational and awareness-raising efforts and the availability of grievance mechanisms and sanctions. We show that the UK has a much longer-standing and more child protection-focused approach to coach-athlete violence, whilst Finland has adopted a newer safe sport style system. We conclude that both approaches have deficiencies and outline the ways in which the principles of the UNGPs are not upheld. Therefore, suggestions for improvements for both countries are made, drawn from lessons learned from each other’s systems and recommendations embedded in recent research.