Safeguarding Children Policy

1. Our Responsibilities

As an England Accredited Club, Sporting Rugby FC acknowledges our responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person directly connected with our club and are committed to providing a safe environment for all.

We recognise that those aged 16/17 years of age are legally defined as children and therefore we have a responsibility to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. As such we subscribe to The Football Association's (The FA) Safeguarding Children Policy and Procedures.

Our football club endorses and adopts the following key safeguarding principles:

• 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, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital status or civil partnership, race, nationality, ethnic origin, colour, religion or belief, ability or disability, pregnancy and maternity.
• 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/carers is essential.

Football Club acknowledges that every child or young person who plays or participates in football should be able to do so in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice, inappropriate behaviour and abuse. This is the responsibility of every adult involved in our club including the parents/carers of our players.

We commit to ensuring that young people have the right to take part, be heard and have their views and opinions taken into consideration when making club decisions and actions that concern them.

2. Our Role

Sporting Rugby FC has a responsibility to safeguard 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 FA's Safeguarding Children Regulations (see The FA Handbook) apply to everyone in football whether in a paid or voluntary capacity, including coaches/managers, volunteers, match officials, helpers on club tours, medical staff or other club officials/helpers.

3. Safer Recruitment

We endorse and adopt The FA's Safer Recruitment guidelines. Where an individual is going to take on a specific role for the club we will:

• Specify what the role is and what tasks it involves.
• Request identification documents.
• As a minimum, meet and chat with the applicant(s) and where possible interview people before appointing them.
• Ask for and follow up with 2 references before appointing someone.
• Where eligible, require an FA-accepted DBS enhanced with barred list check, in line with The FA's current Safeguarding Children Policy and Regulations.

If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of a club official who is already involved or has approached us to join the club, guidance will be sought from the County Football Association (CFA) Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO).

4. Whistle-Blowing

Sporting Rugby FC supports The FA's Whistle Blowing policy. Any adult or young person with concerns about an adult in a position of trust within football can whistle blow by:

• Writing to The FA Case Manager at The Football Association, Wembley Stadium, PO Box 1966, London SW1P 9EQ.
• Emailing Safeguarding@TheFA.com
• Going direct to the Police, Children's Social Care or the NSPCC.

Sporting Rugby FC encourages everyone to know about The FA's Whistle Blowing Policy and to utilise it as necessary.

5. Bullying

We acknowledge and endorse The FA's identification of bullying as a category of abuse. Bullying of any kind is not acceptable at our club. All players and parents/carers will be able to access our anti-bullying policy and know that incidents will be dealt with appropriately. In cases of repeated and/or serious bullying the CFA DSO may be contacted.

6. Acceptable Behaviour with Young People

Everyone who works or volunteers with children is responsible and accountable for the way in which they behave around and towards them, and every child has a right to be treated with respect and dignity. We always require adults within our club to exhibit acceptable behaviour in line with The FA's Acceptable Behaviours When Working With Young People guidance for Grassroots Football.

7. Reporting Concerns

In this club, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. If anyone is worried about a child it is important that they report their concerns to the Club Welfare Officer (CWO) or a member of the Club committee, who will act as follows:

1. The CWO or a member of the Club committee will manage poor practice and where necessary seek advice from the CFA DSO.
2. The CWO or a member of the Club committee will make referrals about more serious concerns to the CFA DSO, or in an emergency contact the Police or Children's Social Care.
3. We will ensure that if a child needs immediate medical treatment they are taken to a hospital or an ambulance is called, and that it is identified as a child protection concern.
4. The CWO or a member of the Club committee will keep records of the actions taken and keep the CFA DSO informed.
5. If the CWO or a member of the Club committee is not available, or the matter is clearly serious, all members should be aware that they can contact the relevant authorities directly — see below.

8. Our Commitment

As an England Football Accredited Club, our Committee understands and accepts our collective responsibility to adhere to our safeguarding children policy and procedures and ensure that safeguarding is always an agenda item at our committee meetings. We commit to ensuring our members are aware of and have access to our policies.