Australian Bike Polo Code of Conduct

I think this is a great move.

I'd like to see the code of conduct include provision for penalising players, spectators and referees for racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic language used during a game or tournament. I'd like this to extend the policy to include the provision for disallowing team names, tournament names, merchandise and trophies that are deemed to be offensive for the same reasons.

Secondly, I think there should be provision for penalising spectators for otherwise offensive language toward players, referees and other spectators.

Rather than a straight retributive justice model with punishments and so forth I would urge the community to first engage in a dialogue about any altercation and give the perpetrator a chance to reconsider their offence in a public forum. If he/she demonstrates their understanding of the offence and shows sufficient remorse then we should elect to minimise the penalty. I'm thinking of minimum and maximum penalty arrangements with discretionary judgement in the hands of the jedi council or an elected ethics committee with some more diverse genders, races and sexualities than currently present in this group.

I will try and find some examples in other sports and post them here.

I'm supportive of the idea. I like Dave's approach. I'll consider it more when I see an example.

Interesting proposition - I would definitely like to see an example.

This could be especially important when hosting tournaments. For Timaru, a small town where everyone knows everyone, if visiting polo players come to town and do dick moves of court it could seriously impact our current favour with council and businesses.

If there was a good code of conduct that held some weight with players this would be a big plus in enhtusiasm for world bids etc

So, a code of conduct should (in our view) include the behavior away from court when in polo mode.

I like the idea. Lots of us love to drink and heckle etc, but having something in place to make sure it doesn't go too far is probably sensible. Especially in regards to sexist, racist and homophobic rubbish. Gladly, I don't see much (any) of this at polo now, but can't hurt to have it in writing. Im certain there will be some discussion over what 'otherwise offensive' covers, but that's why we are here I guess.

Is Nudity offensive? Bare backsides at Nats this year, complete nude laps at world's last year from a couple of players and spectators. Are your mumma jokes offensive? Where do you draw the line? It's a nice idea.

The idea in principle I support, as mentioned by others, some examples would help define your proposal.

p.s. does "The Fist" fall within that? ;D

it's what many of the old OG crew like, but we all know that (in complete honesty) that the crass and sexual innuendo that exists and is a central part to our game is pretty detrimental to the sports growth, particularly with getting any legit funding or more female players.

Agree @brooktaitstyles , get a bit cringey with the tacky dick jokes.

I like the spot counsellling idea @davidcorrin i would suggest the powerful option of exclusion if awareness fails, not sure if how difficult that would be to implement

My use of offensive in the first paragraph, relating to sexist, racist and homophobic speech, is about the elimination of those terms deemed to refer to systems of oppression suffered by minority groups included but not limited to those mentioned above.

The use of otherwise offensive in the second paragraph relates to conduct such as foul language and intimidation when directed at another member of our community in an intimidating, or disrespectful manner. Such as a spectator yelling "Fuck off ref, are your eyes painted on?"

I believe that crass humour, like dick jokes, are fair game if and only if they fall outside the above two notions of offensive. Free speech is only justified when the value of any particular speech act outweighs its harm. Humour is not a cart blanche justification for offensive behaviour. Satire like south park, offensive as it is, is profound and valuable in ways that a polo team name could never be so let's call a spade a spade...

I think The Fist falls outside those bounds, facetious smiley face noted ; ) Even the heckle/chant "fist it/them in the hole" is alright on these terms IMO. Crisco still haven't replied to my sponsorship request FYI...

An example of something that perhaps does not fall outside these definitions of offensive would be the team name Butt Hurt Locker for example. I believe that the term butt hurt is a subtle reference to rape culture. It is often used to describe a team or individual that displays bitterness or displeasure in having been defeated. We can all agree that it relates to anal penetration and if we consider it in the context of being displeased to have been penetrated along with the use of the word hurt to suggest pain then I think we can all agree that it isn't a stretch to see that any serious analysis of the term should deem it to be a reference to anal rape. This is a contentious example of course but is helpful for our purposes in terms of coming up with a code that allows for discussion and consideration inside the community. We should be willing to accept reasonable arguments where terms should be deemed offensive and this is perhaps the best example I could come up with where some might not agree at first.

Nudity, dick jokes and lots of crass humour should survive such criticism IMO. It's a fine line of course but if we encourage a healthy dialogue that explains and justifies itself through community involvement and reflective discussion, any violation should offer an opportunity to support the offender to be a more conscientious member of our diverse community, provided they are amenable to reasonable discussion and are remorseful in relevant ways. Failing this a policy of exclusion would be a last resort abut an essential part of any code of conduct.

D.

Any progress on a code of conduct @davidcorrin ? Or any one else?