“Are you onside?” Building safer cultures in sport across Liverpool City Region

Sport should be a place where everyone feels safe, welcome and able to take part. But too many women and girls still face harmful behaviours – sexist “banter” on the sidelines, harassment in the gym, exclusion from teams. We’re now working with Merseyside Sports Partnership, the Active Partnership for Liverpool City Region (LCR), as well as partners across the region, through a bystander intervention programme called “Are you onside?“

The programme helps people across sport and physical activity to recognise harmful behaviour and feel confident challenging it. We treat bystander action as prevention. If we can stop harm before it escalates, we can start to shift what is perceived to be normal behaviour.

In February 2026, MSP brought together more than 50 stakeholders from across Liverpool City Region – local authorities, sports clubs, community organisations and place partnerships – for a co-production workshop. What came through was clear: harmful behaviour in sport is rarely a one-off. It’s woven into everyday language, humour and group dynamics, and held in place by uncertainty about what’s actually acceptable.

Delegates were equally clear that silence isn’t indifference. People weigh real social and professional risks before speaking up, and they’re far more likely to act when their organisation visibly stands behind them. Bystander intervention isn’t a single behaviour and can’t be reduced to a checklist. It’s a practice shaped by context, confidence and culture.

These insights are now feeding directly into the next phase of “Are you onside?“. Over the coming months, we’ll develop the training to focus on practical decision-making, real-world scenarios and the “grey areas” people actually encounter. A new leadership workshop will help senior figures embed bystander principles in policy and practice.

From September 2026, we’ll roll out train-the-trainer programmes on a place-by-place basis across Liverpool City Region, beginning in St Helens and Knowsley. Local trainers will be supported through co-delivery, mentoring, and a community of practice, building lasting capacity, not a one-off intervention.

The workshop showed there’s both appetite and infrastructure for change across the region. The task now is to translate that into safer, more inclusive sport for everyone.

This work also aligns with the wider Liverpool City Region commitment to championing gender equality in sport and physical activity, including MSP’s leadership on the Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration and collective action to remove systemic barriers for women and girls.

Read our full insight and design report to see the workshop findings in detail and how they’re shaping the next phase of “Are you onside?“