Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club is committed to promoting and maintaining the safest possible environment for children and young people to train and play football. 

Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person who has been entrusted to its care and is committed to working to provide a safe environment for all members.

A child or young person is anyone under the age of 18 engaged in any club football activity.

We subscribe to The Football Association’s (FA) child protection and best practice policy and procedures, endorse and adopt the policy statement contained in that document. 

The key principles of The FA Child Protection Policy are that: 

• The child’s welfare is, and must always be, the paramount consideration.
• All children and young people have a right to be protected from abuse regardless of their age, gender, disability, culture, language, racial origin, religious beliefs or sexual orientation.
• All suspicions and allegations of abuse will be taken seriously and responded to swiftly and appropriately.
• Working in partnership with other organisations, children and young people and their parents or carers is essential.

 

We acknowledge that every child or young person who plays or participates in football should be able to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice and abuse. 

Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in our club. 

Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club has a role to play in safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people by protecting them from physical, sexual or emotional harm and from neglect or bullying.

It is noted and accepted that The Football Association’s child protection regulation (see The FA Handbook) applies to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity.

 

This includes:

those who are volunteers, match officials, helpers on club tours, football coaches, club officials or medical staff. 

We endorse and adopt The FA’s Child Protection and Best Practice Guidelines for Recruiting Volunteers and will: 

• Develop a role profile.
• Request identification documents.
• As a minimum meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible conduct interviews before appointing.
• Require an FA CRB Unit Enhanced Disclosure for all personnel acting on behalf of Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club.
• Require appointed managers to achieve FA Level 1 (minimum).

 

All current Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club members with direct access to children and young people will be required to complete a CRB Enhanced Disclosure via The FA CRB Unit.

If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of an individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club, guidance will be sought from The Football Association.

It is noted and accepted that The FA will consider the relevance and significance of the information obtained via The FA CRB Unit Enhanced CRB Disclosure and that all decisions will be made in the best interests of children and young people. 

It is accepted that The FA aims to prevent people with a history of relevant and significant offending from having contact with children or young people and the opportunity to influence policies or practice with children or young people. This is to prevent direct sexual or physical harm to children and to minimize the risk of ‘grooming’ within football. 

It is known that some perpetrators use football as a means to engage with children and young people, those who do seek to ‘groom’ children are very clever and the more information they can collect about an individual  the easier it is for them to establish a rapport. In respect of this, for the health and safety of players and in compliance with the FA’s recommendations Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club rules require: 

• No new teamwear, kit, accessories or baggage supplied for representation of Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club to bear the name or initials of any player under the age of 18. (retrospective printing will not be permitted).
• No web page shall directly identify an individual player under the age of 18. Team photographs may contain names, but these must be in a random order.

 

• Photographs and Video recordings taken at training, matches and tournaments whilst representing Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club, may only take place with the permission of the manager or in the case of a match both managers. Should any parent/carer within a team object no photographs or video recording will be taken.
• Video recordings should be of the event itself not the child.
• No photographs must be taken of children who are subject to a court order.
• Managers, coaches and any other members of Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club who require CRB enhanced disclosure and Football Association ‘Goal’ safeguarding children best practice certificates must supply the issue number and date to the Club Welfare Officer on receipt. All members are responsible for renewing both certificates every three years.
• Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club requests managers and coaches to refrain from smoking when coaching children.
• It is the responsibility of Team Managers to ensure their coaches, parents and team followers adhere to the above points. Contravention is subject Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club’s disciplinary procedure.

 

Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club supports The FA’s ‘whistle blowing’ policy. Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague can ‘whistle blow’ by contacting: 

The Club Welfare Officer :    via the website link

Or via the clubs dedicated 24 hr hotline:  07856-124972 

The FA Child Protection Manager :   0207 745 4771,

by writing to:      The FA Case Manager

      The Football Association,

      25 Soho Square,

       London

      W1D 4FA 

or by going direct to the police, social services or the NSPCC.  

Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club encourages everyone to know about it and utilise it if necessary. 

The Club has appointed a Club Welfare Officer (CWO) in line with The FA’s role profile and required completion of the child protection and best practice workshop. The post holder will be involved with designated person’s training

provided by The FA. The CWO is the first point of contact for all club members and parents or guardians regarding concerns for the welfare of any child or young person. They will liaise directly with the County FA Child Protection Officer (CFA CPO) and will be familiar with the procedures for referring any concerns. They will also play a proactive role in increasing an awareness of poor practice and abuse amongst club members. 
 

Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club acknowledge and endorse The FA’s identification of bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any kind is not acceptable at our club. If bullying does occur, all players, parents or guardians should be able to tell and know that incidents will be dealt with promptly.  Incidents need to be reported to the CWO or a member of the committee. 

Codes of conduct for players, parents, spectators, officials and coaches have been implemented by Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club. In order to validate these codes of conduct the club has a clear disciplinary procedure to deal with

any misconduct at club level and acknowledges the possibility of potential sanctions which may be implemented by leagues or the CFA in more serious circumstances. All prospective members will receive a copy of the club member’s handbook, containing codes of conduct etc. which they are required to read and sign a declaration of acceptance. 

Further advice on child protection matters can be obtained from:

• Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club 24-Hour Helpline  07856-124972
• The County Football Association’s Child Protection Officer, whose details can be found in the County Handbook
• The Football Association/NSPCC Child Protection 24-Hour Helpline 0808 800 5000
• For deaf users 0800 056 0566 24-Hour Helpline
• www.TheFA.com/Goal
• The FA child protection team on 0207 745 4649.

 

By following and adopting the correct procedures and best practice of the Football Association and Boldmere S & S Falcons Football Club you are protecting yourself and the club. 

Remember No action is not an option in Child Protection.