Adult/Open Age Football
Safeguarding in the Open-age Game
The Safeguarding of adults in football is essential to ensure that everyone plays their part in making the game safe for everyone to enjoy.
Football plays a large part in people’s lives creating social interaction and physical exercise for thousands of players of all abilities. This has possibly never been relevant through the recent pandemic where through Lockdown restrictions this activity was suspended.
Many people may be playing the game that may need support for their mental health and wellbeing. If you need support, you can contact North Staffs Mind on 01782 262100 or www.nsmind.org.uk
Adult Disability Football Toolkit
The FA have developed several resources to support adult disability teams in making sure that their club is promoting the best safeguarding standards. Please view the guidance in the link below.
fa best practice note 10.1
Under 18 Players in Open-age Football
It must be recognised that there are several young players aged 16/17 who are participating in open age football. Whilst we see this as part of the transition between youth and the adult game, we need to ensure that these players are safeguarded, and they have a positive experience.
We must remember that players in this age group are still legally classed as a child and therefore we would request that clubs consider issues such as changing room arrangements/ showering etc to make sure that the person feels safe during these activities.
The FA request that clubs with under 18 players in their teams adopt a safeguarding policy. The FA have provided a template that clubs can adopt - please see below.
SAFEGUARDING AND PROCEDURES - COLOUR VERSION
EDITABLE SAFEGUARDING POLICY FOR CLUBS WITH 16-17 YEAR-OLD PLAYERS
The team manager or coach should also have a valid DBS accepted on their FAN and they should be named in their role in the team on the whole game system.
If you require any support on completing a DBS application, contact Jan Scott the county Designated Safeguarding Officer via support@staffordshirefa.com
We would also encourage club officials to become more aware of safeguarding by taking the Safeguarding for all workshop developed by the FA. To access this course, please see below.
If you require a DBS check and need more information please visit this link:
Codes of conduct