Respecting Officials Statement – April 2025
Respecting Officials Statement
April 2025
Swim Ireland recently held a mandatory meeting with all Water Polo club chairpersons to address a very serious issue running through the sport of Water Polo.
Swim Ireland and Water Polo Competitions Committee have cause for concern regarding the rising levels of abuse and unacceptable behaviours being aimed towards our referees and table officials.
It’s acknowledged that this is not happening within every club, and there are many clubs who approach the game (coaching or playing) in a respectful and appropriate manner.
However, despite the introduction of the Water Polo Respect Charter, there are still a handful of clubs, whose coaches and/or players, believe it’s OK to ignore the values outlined in the Respect Charter and whose behaviours and actions towards referees is still at an unacceptable level.
It’s accepted that coaches and players can be animated and show their emotions during games. This is only natural, and is a part of the game.
Nevertheless, emotions must be controlled and should never be directed with aggression or with abusive language at referees and table officials.
At the end of the day, our officials are volunteers who give up their time, week in week, out, to help run the sport. Water Polo is not inundated with officials, Swim Ireland and the Competitions Committee admire those individuals for stepping up to support Water Polo.
If referees are continually facing abuse and are made to feel uncomfortable in their roles, we will eventually lose them from the sport and there will be no game left to play.
It is important to note that all referees, no matter their level of ability or experience will make mistakes. That’s just the nature of sport. We can’t expect referees to get every call right, they are humans, trying to do their best, and they do not deserve to be publicly berated by players, parents or coaches.
Recently, there has been a rise in incidents of unacceptable behaviours, from coaches and players, aimed towards new referees and table officials.
Just like young players develop their skills over many years, so too do referees. Our new referees are currently receiving support and mentoring from more experienced referees and delegates.
Swim Ireland will soon begin working on a specific development plan for officials and will aim to re-introduce an annual referees conference. We are confident the system will produce quality referees for now and for the future.
However, if we lose new referees from our sport, due to the poor behaviours of coaches, these referees will never have had the opportunity to develop and reach a high level, and the game of Water Polo will suffer in the long run.
We all have a responsibility to affect positive change within our clubs, leagues, and cups.
Coaches involved at a junior level must acknowledge just how much influence they hold over young players. They are role models for young people and should therefore act in a responsible way.
Positively changing player behaviours starts with the coaches, and affecting positive change in coaches starts with strong leadership in club committees.
Swim Ireland and the Competitions Committee are therefore asking all club chairpersons to relay this statement to their coaching teams. To engage in conversations with your coaching teams about respecting officials, and to observe how your coaches are behaving during match play.
It’s important that the values in our Respect Charter and flowing throughout all clubs.
To tackle discipline issues in the sport, the National Water Polo Committee recently voted unanimously to change part of the rule book relating to discipline and the administration of sanctions.
The NWPC are prepared to consider further rule book changes with tougher sanctions if the treatment of referees and table officials does not improve.
The Competitions Committee will be monitoring incidents of discipline across the game and will come down much tougher on those individuals and clubs who repeatably demonstrate a disregard for the rules.
So please
Let’s all come together
Respect the Officials
Respect the Game!
