Principal Partners
At Play by the Rules, we support volunteers, administrators, coaches, officials and parents to address issues of fair play and respect in community sport. We are an independent platform focused solely on community sport. We provide practical, peer-informed tools to help people navigate real-life situations with clarity and confidence.
We empower the people who shape sport from the ground up - with resources, training, and guidance designed for everyday clubs, teams, and families.
Our shared goal is to build a sporting community defined by empathy, fairness, and belonging, where everyone can participate, feel safe, and be respected, no matter their background or role.
Partners
Play by the Rules is a unique collaboration between the Sport Integrity Australia, the Australian Sports Commission, Australian Human Rights Commission, the eSafety Commissioner and every state and territory sport and recreation department and human rights agency. We collaborate with these partners along with experts and sport organisations at all levels.
Resources
Check out our DEI resources developed in partnership with experts in the field:
· DEI Policy Template for clubs and associations
· Responding to LGBTIQA+ scenarios in community sport
· Spectator Code of Conduct | pbtr
Member Protection Information Officers
Member Protection Information Officers (MPIOs) are an integral part of all levels of Australian sport, especially grassroots sport. MPIOs are there to listen to issues raised by members of any sport before triaging and referring them to the right place to find a resolution. The MPIO is responsible for providing information about a person's rights, responsibilities and options to an individual making a complaint or raising a concern, as well as information support during the process. MPIOs can be based within a club, association, a state sporting organisation, a national sporting organisation, or a national sporting organisation for people with disability.
Find out more here: Member Protection Information Officers | pbtr
Established in March 2016, Pride in Sport is Australia’s leading program dedicated to enhancing LGBTQ+ inclusion in the sporting community. As a national initiative, Pride in Sport works with organisations, clubs, and individuals in the sport, fitness and recreation sector to foster safe, inclusive, and supportive environments for LGBTQ+ athletes, coaches, volunteers, officials and fans.
Our mission is to support organisations at all levels in the sport and recreation sector to create safe and inclusive environments for people with diverse sexualities and genders.
Pride in Sport is a social inclusion initiative of ACON, and we strive to enhance ACON’s Strategic Plan (Strategic Focus Area 3), mission, and values with our work.
Informed – We remain informed, and rely on evidence, lived experience and consultation to make the best choices possible.
Inclusion – We demonstrate inclusion, working with people who may experience exclusion and ensuring their meaningful involvement in sport.
Excellence – We strive for excellence, recognising our contribution to our communities’ health and the organisation’s potential for improvement.
CMSport is a dedicated service established by the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) to support sporting organisations to engage meaningfully with multicultural communities. We work to make the sport sector more inclusive and accessible by building connections and strengthening cultural safety across all levels of the sporting industry.
Our approach bridges the gap between sport and diverse communities, using an intersectional lens that values lived experience and supports real change on and off the field.
Monash University Faculty of Education is currently ranked 18 in the world (THE 2026 rankings) and has a strong reputation for sport and physical activity related research. Academics within the Faculty focus on issues of equity, inclusion and social justice in sport, physical activity and health and physical education, developing research that informs policy and practice across local government, state and national sporting organisations and sport peak bodies.
Recent Projects and Resources include:
Informal Sport as a Health and Social Resource
Enhancing the capacity of Victorian Community Sport to tackle racism
United on the Field: Enhancing Equity and Inclusion in Community Sport
Victoria University has an extraordinary international reputation for sport education and research, ranking #6 in the world for sport science (Shanghai Global Rankings, 2025). Sport research at VU is driven by the Institute for Health and Sport (IHES), one of two university flagship research institutes. It addresses real-world problems of local, national and global relevance in health, sport and active living, across four multi-disciplinary research programs. As a leading sports university, we have over 200 partnerships and affiliations with peak sporting bodies, professional and community sporting clubs, public groups focused on health and education.
Find out more: https://www.vu.edu.au/institute-for-health-sport-ihes
Sponsors
PLATINUM PARTNER: The Australian Open
The Australian Open (AO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held before the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
From grassroots to Grand Slams, Tennis Australia powers the sport’s heartbeat and its limitless potential.
Tennis Australia acknowledges that the AO is held on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country and we extend our respects to Elders past and present and to all First Nations People.
Learn more - Home | AO
SILVER PARTNER: Vic Health
Established in 1987, VicHealth is the world’s first health promotion foundation.
We focus on promoting good health and preventing chronic disease (which costs Australia about $140.4 billion each year). Our approach goes beyond encouraging individual healthy habits - we focus on transforming the social, economic, and environmental factors that shape wellbeing. This means advocating for policies that prioritise community health and wellbeing over profit, increasing access to food that is fresh and nutritious, and creating healthy and connected communities.
Learn more - Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth)
BRONZE PARTNER: CoachMate
Powering the people who power your sport.
CoachMate is the all-in-one platform that helps sports organisations engage, upskill, and grow their communities. From clubs to schools and volunteers, we provide the tools you need to keep kids and youth in sport and your communities thriving.
Learn more - CoachMate
BRONZE PARTNER: Rely
An all-in-one case management platform for sporting organisations that take integrity seriously.
Rely helps national, state and club sporting organisations meet NIF obligations, run a best-practice reporting hotline, and turn reports into actionable insight - all while reducing manual work and fragmented systems.
Learn more here.
BRONZE PARTNER: NSW Office of Sport
Everyone Plays Here
The Office of Sport is the lead NSW Government agency for sport and active recreation.
Our purpose is supporting all people, communities and organisations across NSW to enjoy and realise the benefits of participating in sport and active recreation.
Learn more - Office of Sport | NSW Government