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Silverdale Rugby Club’s under-15 girls are helping lead a national campaign aimed at changing the way adults support young players from the sideline.
A distinctive blue boundary line has been installed around field two at the club, carrying phrases young athletes say they want to hear during games, including “I’m proud of you”, “kia kaha” and “keep going”.
The initiative, called The Line, is part of the 2degrees SupportHER Club campaign and was developed after research into how sideline comments affect girls aged 11 to 16.
Silverdale players helped bring the project to life by sharing their own experiences of encouragement, criticism and pressure from spectators.
Nikita Phillips (13), who has played Rippa Rugby for nine years and is in her first season of tackle rugby, says negative comments often become more noticeable when a team is losing.
“You’ll get things like, ‘Why didn’t you catch that ball?’ or ‘What was that?’ Those little things can really put girls down,” she says.
Teammate Sophie Ware (15) says the comments can come from parents and supporters of both teams.
“People you don’t even know on the sidelines can be screaming negative words and phrases at you, and you can feel so defined by what they say. It can take over the game.”
Both girls say positive encouragement has a very different effect.
“We personally want to hear positive, uplifting words,” Nikita says. “Positive words make us thrive and want to do our best. Negative words just put us down.”
She says the blue line has already made spectators think more carefully about what they call out.
“I feel like parents are looking down and reading it, thinking, ‘They might want to hear that’, and then saying it.”
Sophie says young players already know when they have made a mistake and do not need it amplified from the sideline.
“We don’t want to be defined by the bad words on the field. We want to be defined by the positive things, because we are so much more than our mistakes.”
The project follows research commissioned by 2degrees which found 55 per cent of girls surveyed felt more pressure when supporters were watching, while 99 per cent believed the right kind of sideline support could help girls stay in sport longer.
The campaign encourages parents, coaches and supporters to focus on effort, confidence and positivity rather than criticism, comparisons or constant instructions from the sideline.
2degrees says clubs and communities will be able to access The Line packs and resources to help create more positive sporting environments for girls.
