Clubs signing up for Play Safe Weekend

NEARLY 50 clubs in Suffolk have so far signed up for the Play Safe Weekend.

The Play Safe Weekend is taking place on September 28th & 29th and so far 47 clubs across the county have committed to supporting the initiative.

Play Safe is a year-round campaign that amplifies the importance of safeguarding across all levels of the game aimed at making sure football is safe, fun, and enjoyable for everyone, everywhere, every time.

Suffolk FA Designated Safeguarding Officer Hayley Chart said: “Safeguarding is an integral part of everyone’s role within football to ensure that our children and young people are protected from harm and abuse.

“Thankfully, the term ‘safeguarding’ is now well known with policies and practices embedded across the game. The purpose of the Play Safe Weekend is to continue to highlight what safeguarding is and when and how to raise your concerns.

“This year’s campaign focuses on ‘knowing your role’ from parents to coaches and players themselves – if you see something you are concerned about, talk to someone who can help and make sure you act on it.

“It is important to differentiate ‘safeguarding’ concerns from poor practice and I would encourage everyone to familiarise themselves with the following definition of safeguarding as often this term is mis-used when identifying concerns.

“It is important to recognise the difference to enable club volunteers and ourselves to address and prioritise concerns accordingly: “Safeguarding is the process of protecting people's health, wellbeing, and human rights, and preventing them from harm, abuse, and neglect”.

Hayley continued: “Persistent poor practice (such as shouting) can itself have a detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of children so it is important that this is identified in the first instance and addressed before it can escalate further. Every youth club has a Welfare Officer who is specially trained to manage both safeguarding concerns and poor practice, ensuring this is dealt with by additional education and supervision for example.

“In the first instance, any concern should be initially reported to the Club Welfare Officer who will be able to manage this concern accordingly. If the concern is about them or you don’t feel able to raise it with the CWO, then you can report your concerns directly to Suffolk FA who will work with the club to address and investigate the concerns raised.

“All our youth clubs across the county are doing great work each and every day to ensure the safety, wellbeing and protection of young people in the sport. A lot of their work goes on behind the scenes and it is also important therefore, to use this weekend to highlight the dedication and commitment of these volunteers, in particular the Club Welfare Officers whose role it is to ensure that safer recruitment of volunteers takes place throughout the club, with references and DBS checks obtained, alongside ensuring compliance with The FAs safeguarding rules and procedures and keeping everyone’s safeguarding training up to date to enable individuals to take responsibility themselves for identifying the signs of harm, abuse and poor practice.

“Without our amazing network of volunteer Club Welfare Officers, we wouldn’t be able to ensure such high standards of safeguarding practices in grassroots football. Therefore, I sincerely thank them from the bottom of my heart, they are the true safeguarding heroes of our sport. If you don’t know who your Club Welfare Officer is – please find out today.

“Thank you to all our clubs who have signed up to the Play Safe weekend so far, we are looking forward to visiting as many as possible across the weekend of September 28th and 29th to celebrate your hard work and share in your achievements. Play Safe – everyone, everywhere, every time.”

To find out more about the Play Safe Weekend click below.

CLICK HERE

The Suffolk clubs who have signed up so far are as follows: