By Edmond Otis

Over the last year, Sport Hawke's Bay (SHB) has taken a direct and multi-faceted course of action in addressing sideline behaviour problems.

How it's been working, and where to next?

First, what they're not doing. They decided against following the two most common, default methods of addressing the sideline behaviour issue (I wrote about these last year).

In the first method, when an incident occurs, stakeholders talk and complain about it after the game, and then again at meetings or at barbeques, generally agreeing that somebody should do something - but not really being sure of where to start and what to do.

In the second method, concerned stakeholders actually decide to take action, but because the issue is complicated, with lots of different sub-cultures and expectations - they end up with some hard to enforce, unnatural, arbitrary rules that leave everyone frustrated and dissatisfied.

Instead, Sport Hawke's Bay has adopted a proactive approach.

The approach? Find out which codes are actually interested in seeing change take place, and then focus on helping those codes engage their stakeholders: athletes, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers, fans, the community - in a campaign where everyone becomes invested in facilitating actual behavioural change and a positive outcome.

The focus is always on the positive - how we should act - and what we should do - rather than on the negative - what not to do.

The basic structure they've developed is simple: provide direct support, information and resources to those sport codes that are interested in changing their "fan culture."

Most importantly, the change must be unique and appropriate to that specific code. So, for example, basketball's campaign is going to be different from hockey's - even though both campaigns are all based on the same concept.

So, what's happened so far? In mid-2013, a project team, led by Donna Trow, SHB Sport Development Team Leader, and Kevin Murphy, SHB Commercial Manager, developed the basic strategy and campaign to raise awareness of the regional sport codes to both the issue of - and solution for - problematic sideline behavior.

Sport Hawke's Bay, led by Colin Stone, SHB CEO, then presented the plan through several general SRO meetings, as well as through a number of personal contacts with the region's sport code directors.

In the first year, four codes signed up as founding members of the "Be Part Of The Team" programme: Hawke's Bay Rugby Union, Central Football, Basketball Hawke's Bay, and Hawke's Bay Hockey. Each code has started the process of raising awareness and establishing the type of communication and positive reinforcement most adaptable to their cohort.

Concept

To improve sideline behaviour, everyone (players, parents, fans, officials, coaches) needs to "Be Part Of The Team".

Goal

They wanted to achieve less negative and more positive sideline behavior. Another goal was to foster an understanding among all shareholders that a positive sporting experience equals more participation, better athlete retention and better athlete performance.

Initial Focus Population

Junior Sport: 5 to 13 years old.

Message

Clear, clean and concise, allowing for cross code pollination and general community awareness and buy-in. "Our Role is to Encourage" became the slogan, and five simple points were emphasized:

• They're kids
• Coaches are volunteers
• Refs are human
• It's a game
• Let success be their dream

Creating shared responsibility for success

Sport Hawke's Bay shares the responsibility for program implementation with those codes that are interested in taking part in the programme. The separate codes are responsible for code-centric policies and procedures, along with active promotion and recruiting through clubs, school forums, and meetings. SHB assumed responsibility for imagery, generic marketing, media engagement, and information/education support to the codes.

Initially, Sport Hawke's Bay focused on getting the imagery right for the campaign. Lots of ideas were created, discarded, discussed, argued over and finally agreed on.

Once created, the imagery took the form of posters, postcards, and event banners. Short YouTube videos (some serious, some funny) were created featuring regionally known athletes and coaches and, just as importantly, normal kids talking on how "positive fans" made the game better and helped them play better. These are distributed thru social media, emailed announcements, on websites, and viewed at organizational meetings.

In addition, the community has grown to support the idea and has proactively joined in to offer support. Hawke's Bay

Today, the region's big newspaper, got interested and ran several stories around the campaign. General media coverage was supportive, including radio, websites, and social media forums. Regional Councils throughout Hawke's Bay were also supportive and provided (funded) signage at a number of sport parks and venues.

The major strength of the program, at this point, seems to be in the combination of a code-specific message, with region wide cross-pollination of the marketing. Clearly, "Be Part of The Team" is most effective where there is the most exposure.

The greatest challenge is for those codes with a broader, looser, organisational structure. More events occurring concurrently at more locations, seems to make it difficult to raise awareness in all sectors - but this is being worked on.

Thankfully, the "Be Part of The Team" campaign, as conceptualized by Sport Hawke's Bay is not a one shot effort. They understand that to impact the culture, win hearts and minds, and to gain traction and lasting momentum - you need to be in for the long game.

If phase one was about raising awareness, branding, education, and creating broad community buy-in, phase two is about helping the codes - help the fans - develop different behaviours and pride in those new behaviours. Pride in being part of the team.

Some of the plan going forward includes:

• Taking on two new codes. As of 2015, HB Netball and Volleyball HB are now on board.
• A specific dedicated focus on the secondary school space. There has been an enthusiastic endorsement of the program from the management committee and work is going forward to involve each school and parent groups. This expansion of the programme willrequire a format that is effective in the secondary school environment.
• A primary school YouTube video competition (with prizes) "How to Be A Good Fan"
• Recruitment and training for specific sideline behaviour representative parents and coaches - so there is a presence at every game from every team.

Perhaps the most interesting and forward thinking aspect of the phase two plan is the anticipated roll-out of an actual training program for team supporters and game attendees - code specific, code developed, and code facilitated - focusing on, what else? "How To Be A Good Fan".