Safeguarding | gillfordparkfc

WE ONLY DO POSITIVE
The FA’s Respect campaign was launched in the 2008/9 season after a build-up of behavioural problems in the National Game. Following its success, The FA want to spread the message of Respect even further across English football. The new campaign - ‘We Only Do Positive’ - aims to do just that.
The new campaign highlights the importance of positive behaviour towards young footballers, specifically looking at the impact parents and coaches can have. The campaign is rooted in extensive research carried out in 2017/18 to understand more clearly the effect of negative behaviour on Under 7s - Under 18s and where Respect interventions would be most effective.
The research provided clear evidence of why positivity was so important in the youth game. The stand-out insight was that 9 in 10 children played better with positive encouragement. In addition, the research highlighted that negative experiences on children had a serious adverse effects on both in their footballing ability and more widely to their enjoyment of the sport.
‘We Only Do Positive’ is a response to this research and uses an all new strategic approach to target coaches and parents specifically around mini-soccer and youth football. It aims to promote and educate coaches and parents on their roles in creating a fun, safe and inclusive environment for all the players, ensuring they have great experiences throughout their football journey.

Grassroots Codes for Youth and Adults

Play your part young players
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Play your Part Parents
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Fa.Social Media Guidance
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How You Report your concerns to F.A Safeguarding team - And how to Whistle blow

If you are worried about a child, it’s vital you report your concerns.

Doing nothing is not an option.

It’s also important you stay calm, and if any child is present, reassure them they are not to blame. But don’t make promises of confidentiality or outcome.

There are five ways to report a concern:

To your club or league Designated Safeguarding Officer – please find out from your club who these people are;
To your County FA Designated Safeguarding Officer.
By emailing The FA Safeguarding Team at safeguarding@TheFA.com;
If urgent and you cannot contact your club, league or County FA Designated Safeguarding Officer, you should call the NSPCC 24-hour helpline on 0808 800 5000; or www.nspcc.org.uk
If it is an emergency because a child or children are at immediate risk, then call the Police or Children’s Social Care in your area.

If you are concerned that someone may be behaving inappropriately, or is seeking to groom a child in an online environment, then please use the CEOP reporting button that will take you directly to the team at the National Crime Agency. You should also inform your County FA or The FA via safeguarding@TheFA.com.

Whistle blow

Whistle-blowing in a safeguarding context means revealing and raising concerns over misconduct or malpractice within an organisation, or within an independent structure associated with it.

It can be used as an early-warning system or when it’s recognised that appropriate actions have not been taken.

This approach or policy is adopted in many different walks of life.

Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague’s conduct towards a child or young person can also use whistleblowing by calling 0800 169 1863 and asking for The FA’s safeguarding team, or via email to: Safeguarding@TheFA.com

Alternatively, concerns can be reported:

Direct to the local Police or Children’s Social Care services; or
The Child Protection in Sport Unit at cpsu@nspcc.org.uk; or
The NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 or email: help@nspcc.org.
A copy of the safeguarding policy & procedure is available in the download section of the website

The Role of the Club Welfare Officer (CWO)

The two key responsibilities are:

1. To be clear about the club’s responsibilities when running activities for children and young people. This involves:
• Ensuring these responsibilities are well understood by others
• Working with the Youth League Welfare Officer (YLWO)
• Working with your County Welfare Officer
• Promoting The FA’s Respect programme and helping to develop best practice.

2. To help club members understand what their duty of care towards children and young people actually means and entails on a day-to-day basis.

In order to carry out the responsibilities they will follow these five simple steps:

1. Put in place…
• A safeguarding children policy and anti-bullying policy
• Responsible recruitment getting the right people involved
• The Respect Codes

2. Understand…
• What Respect aims to do
• The benefits of implementing the Respect codes
• The quick wins to be gained by using The FA’s safeguarding children best practice guidance
• Why certain roles require an Enhanced CRB check and how The FA CRB process works
• How to refer a concern about the welfare of a child

3. Communicate with…
• Club officials
• Parents / Spectators and get them to sign up to the Respect codes
• Coaches and managers about the importance of being consistent role models for their players
• Your YLWO – introduce yourself, find out how they can support you and let them know what you are doing to safeguard children in your club
• Your County Welfare Officer if you need help or advice

4. Encourage…
• Parents to complete the Respect education programme
• Coaches, team managers, first aiders / medics to complete The FA’s Safeguarding Children Workshop
• Coaches and team managers to listen to their player’s thoughts, ideas and views
• Committee to make use of designated spectator areas at all games

5. Monitor…
• Repeated incidents of poor behavior and liaise with your committee (and where necessary YLWO or County Welfare Officer)
• Compliance with Enhanced CRB checks through The FA CRB Unit for those who require one.

Steve Greenway
Designated Safeguarding Officer
contact: Safeguarding@cumberlandFA.com

Club Complaints Procedure

In the event that any member feels that he or she has suffered discrimination in any way or or that the Club Policies, Rules or Code of Conduct have been broken, We request a 24 hour cooling off period before you begin any complaint .

Should you still wish to make a complaint after the cooling off period has expired please follow the procedures below:

1 - They should report the matter to the Club Secretary or another member of the Committee.

The report should include:

Details of what, when and where the occurrence took place
Any witness statement and names
Names of any others who have been treated in a similar way
Details of any former complaints made about the incident, date, when and to whom made
A preference for a solution to the incident.

2 - The Club’s nominated appeals/conduct panel on behalf of the Management Committee will sit for any hearings that are requested.

3 - The Club’s Management Committee will have the power to:

Warn as to future conduct
Suspend from membership
Remove from membership any person found to have broken the Club’s policies or Codes of Conduct.
Any complaints are to be emailed to gillfordparkfc@yahoo.com