Don’t Let It Be Game Over violence prevention program today received a silver award in the community-led category of the 2021 Australian Crime and Violence Prevention Awards (ACVPA).
The ACVPA recognise best practice in the prevention or reduction of violence and other types of crime in Australia and play a vital role in highlighting effective community-based initiatives to prevent crime and violence.
The Don’t Let It Be Game Over program supports coaches, players and parents to tackle on-field and off-field violence in sport. The program involves a presentation delivered by Neil Davis, father of 17-year-old Sam, the victim of a one-punch assault. This is followed by positive role modelling education for parents and club officials, and violence prevention workshops for players.
Brett Duncanson, from the Sammy D Foundation, said that the success of the program, and what makes it so special, is that it looks to sporting clubs as part of the solution to combating violence in the community.
“Taking a whole-of-club approach to tackling violence means the problem is shared across the leadership of the organisation, the players, their families and the broader sporting community.
“The program has a positive impact in changing attitudes and behaviours towards violence. It increases awareness of the consequences of violence on the broader community and methods to improve safety,” said Mr Duncanson.
“The prestige of winning such a highly esteemed award provides us an opportunity for us to publicly celebrate our team and valued partners who are working tirelessly alongside us to reduce violence in the community as well as provide the opportunity to promote our valuable work on a national platform,” he said.
These annual awards recognise the outstanding contributions being made across Australia for crime prevention, including the development and implementation of practical projects to reduce violence and other types of crime in the community.
Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) Director, Michael Phelan APM, said that this program is an innovative way to approach crime and violence prevention, by encouraging sporting clubs to be part of the solution to combat violence within the community.
“It is a program that is adaptable to all sporting codes and recreational activities involving young people and their families,” said Mr Phelan.
All projects are assessed each year by the ACVPA Board, which is chaired by the AIC Director and consists of senior law enforcement representatives from each state and territory police service.
The awards are a joint Australian Government, state and territory initiative administered by the AIC.
For more information about the award winners, visit www.aic.gov.au/acvpa
To watch the ceremony please visit our YouTube channel, CriminologyTV.
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