Hi Rioters,
I wonder if anyone is able to impart some wisdom on how to deal with a local sporting association which is being, shall we say, just a tad difficult?
In order to protect the innocent (I’ve always wanted to say that!) I will deliberately avoid divulging which sport/association is involved.
My children play a sport, for the purposes of this article, I’ll call it XXX. They are heavily involved in XXX which, at various times during the year, can see us busy more than 4 days a week.
Recently there was a selection about something, after being invited to do so, it was requested that details be given about the decision made. Requests were ignored. I heard someone employed by XXX say to someone else that they wouldn’t respond to such requests. I complain, no result. I seek appeals information, lo and behold, the website has no information about how to appeal. I am invited to email XXX to get information about how to appeal, I am flicked off to someone else. I am ignored. I go ahead and lodge what really is an appeal about breaches of policy. I am brushed off ‘let’s meet and chat’. I don’t want to chat! I want wrongs fixed! There is so much more, I won’t go on.
Who out there keeps an eye on associations who operate as a law unto themselves, blatantly breaching their own policies? Associations who don’t even tell you how you can seek to have decisions reviewed? How can you make them accountable? Is this the time where we ask our Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation to consider this as an issue (there is an election coming up after all)?
Thoughts?