As a parent, you naturally want your child to enjoy football in a safe, positive and supportive environment.
At Park Regis Junior FC, safeguarding isn’t only about responding to serious incidents. It is also important to recognise smaller examples of poor practice or inappropriate behaviour before they have an opportunity to develop into something more serious.
These are sometimes described as lower-level concerns.
But what exactly is a lower-level concern? What should parents look out for? And, importantly, what should you do if something doesn’t seem right?
What is a lower-level concern?
A lower-level concern is behaviour that falls below the standards expected from adults involved in children’s football.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that a child has been harmed or that somebody has deliberately behaved in a harmful way.
It might simply be something that doesn’t feel appropriate or doesn’t meet the standards of behaviour expected at Park Regis Junior FC.
However, apparently small concerns shouldn’t automatically be ignored.
Poor practice that continues without being addressed can become normalised and, in some circumstances, could eventually contribute to a child being placed at risk.
What might parents notice?
Parents see a great deal of what happens around grassroots football.
You might be watching training, standing on the touchline during matches, communicating with coaches or hearing about something from your child afterwards.
Examples of behaviour that might cause concern could include:
- a coach regularly shouting at or humiliating children;
- aggressive or insulting language towards young players;
- repeatedly singling out a particular child for criticism;
- inappropriate jokes or comments around children;
- an adult failing to maintain appropriate boundaries with young players;
- inappropriate private communication with a child;
- inappropriate use of social media;
- aggressive behaviour towards players, parents, referees or opposition teams;
- repeatedly ignoring expected safeguarding procedures;
- behaviour that makes children frightened, intimidated or uncomfortable.
This doesn’t mean that every disagreement or mistake is automatically a safeguarding concern.
Context matters.
But if something makes you uncomfortable, particularly if it happens repeatedly, it is reasonable to raise it.
Listen to your child
Sometimes parents won’t witness the behaviour themselves.
Instead, their child may mention something that happened at training, during a match, in a changing environment, online or while communicating with somebody involved in football.
Listen carefully.
Try not to immediately dismiss what your child is saying, even if the incident initially appears relatively minor.
Equally, try not to interrogate your child or repeatedly ask leading questions.
Allow them to explain what happened in their own words.
If appropriate, make a note afterwards of what your child told you, including when the conversation took place.
If what your child tells you causes concern, speak to the appropriate person rather than trying to investigate the matter yourself.
Not every football complaint is a safeguarding concern
It is important to distinguish safeguarding and poor-practice concerns from ordinary football disagreements.
For example, parents sometimes disagree with decisions about:
- team selection;
- how much playing time a child receives;
- which position a child plays;
- training methods;
- results or tactics;
- which team or age-group squad a player is placed in.
Disagreeing with a football decision doesn’t automatically make it a safeguarding matter.
There may still be an appropriate club procedure for raising the issue, but safeguarding procedures shouldn’t be used simply because a parent disagrees with a footballing decision.
The situation is different when the concern is about how a child is being treated, an adult’s behaviour towards children, inappropriate boundaries or a child’s welfare or safety.
What should I do if I have a lower-level concern?
If you see or hear something that concerns you, don’t assume somebody else will report it.
You also don’t need to decide for yourself whether it is “serious enough” to mention.
For a lower-level concern involving someone at Park Regis Junior FC, an appropriate first step will normally be to raise the matter through the club’s safeguarding arrangements, particularly with the Club Welfare Officer.
Explain what has concerned you as clearly and factually as possible.
Try to distinguish between:
What you personally saw or heard
and
What somebody else has told you.
If your child told you about something, explain that clearly as well.
You don’t need to prove that wrongdoing has occurred before raising a genuine concern.
Your responsibility as a parent is to pass on the concern so that the appropriate person can decide what should happen next.
Make a factual record
If an incident has concerned you, it can be helpful to write down what happened while it is still fresh in your memory.
Record things such as:
- the date and approximate time;
- where it happened;
- who was present;
- what you personally witnessed;
- what was actually said, where you can remember it;
- anything your child subsequently told you;
- whether similar incidents have happened before.
Keep your notes factual.
Avoid adding assumptions about somebody’s motives or trying to diagnose why they behaved in a particular way.
For example:
Fact: “I heard the coach say X to the player.”
is much more useful than:
Assumption: “The coach clearly doesn’t like my child.”
Don’t investigate it yourself
If you are worried about somebody’s behaviour, your role isn’t to conduct your own investigation.
Avoid questioning other children to find out whether the same thing has happened to them or confronting people in an attempt to establish exactly what happened.
There may be information or previous concerns that you aren’t aware of.
Pass the information to the appropriate safeguarding person and allow the correct process to be followed.
What if it seems like a very small concern?
Raise it if you genuinely believe the behaviour is inappropriate.
One relatively minor incident may simply result in advice, guidance or a reminder about expected standards.
But there is another important reason for reporting lower-level concerns.
You may not be the first person to have noticed something.
Imagine three parents separately witness concerning behaviour from the same adult over several months.
Each parent thinks:
“It wasn’t serious enough to report.”
Nobody says anything.
The Club Welfare Officer therefore never knows that a pattern may be developing.
Individual concerns that appear relatively minor can sometimes become much more significant when considered together.
What happens after I report something?
What happens next will depend upon the nature of the concern.
A lower-level poor-practice matter may be capable of being addressed appropriately at Park Regis Junior FC.
A more serious concern may require advice or involvement from the relevant County FA safeguarding team or another appropriate organisation.
Parents shouldn’t feel that they have to work out which category their concern falls into before reporting it.
That is an important point:
You can raise the concern without knowing what the eventual outcome should be.
The appropriate safeguarding people can determine what action or escalation is required.
When should the County FA become involved?
There will be situations where a concern goes beyond something that should simply be dealt with informally.
This might include circumstances where:
- there is concern about a child’s welfare or safety;
- an adult’s behaviour towards a child appears inappropriate;
- inappropriate adult-child boundaries may be involved;
- concerns are repeated or appear to be escalating;
- there may be a pattern of concerning behaviour;
- the matter may require action beyond Park Regis Junior FC;
- there is uncertainty about whether something is poor practice or a more serious safeguarding concern.
Parents don’t need to make this safeguarding threshold decision themselves.
Normally, a concern can be raised with the Park Regis Junior FC Club Welfare Officer, who can follow the appropriate safeguarding procedures and seek advice from the County FA where necessary.
Parents can also seek safeguarding advice through the appropriate football safeguarding channels if circumstances require it.
Raising a concern doesn’t mean that you are declaring somebody guilty of wrongdoing.
You are simply providing information so that the people with the appropriate safeguarding responsibilities can decide what should happen.
What if my concern involves the person I would normally report it to?
There may occasionally be circumstances where you don’t feel able to raise the concern with the person you would normally approach.
For example, the concern might involve that individual, there could be a conflict of interest, or you may have another legitimate reason for believing that the normal route isn’t appropriate.
In those circumstances, don’t simply abandon the concern.
Use another appropriate safeguarding route, which may include another designated safeguarding person or the relevant County FA safeguarding contact.
What if a child is in immediate danger?
A lower-level concern is very different from an emergency.
If you believe a child is in immediate danger or at immediate risk of serious harm, don’t wait for an ordinary club discussion or meeting.
Contact the appropriate emergency or statutory services and follow current safeguarding guidance.
Avoid discussing concerns around the touchline
Safeguarding concerns shouldn’t become touchline gossip.
If you have reported something, avoid discussing allegations with groups of parents, posting about the matter on social media or trying to gather support for one side or another.
This can make an already difficult situation considerably worse and could potentially affect the proper handling of a concern.
Report what you know through the appropriate channels and allow the matter to be considered properly.
What if I am not sure?
This is perhaps the most important message for parents.
You don’t have to be a safeguarding expert.
You don’t have to know whether something meets a particular safeguarding threshold.
And you don’t have to prove that something happened before asking for advice.
If something genuinely concerns you, raise the concern and allow the appropriate safeguarding people to decide what needs to happen next.
Notice it, record it, report it
A useful approach for parents is:
Notice it.
Don’t automatically dismiss inappropriate behaviour because it appears relatively minor.
Record it.
Make a simple factual note of what you saw, heard or were told.
Report it.
Raise the concern through the appropriate Park Regis Junior FC safeguarding channel.
Then allow the appropriate safeguarding process to take over.
The key message for Park Regis Junior FC parents
Children should be able to play football in an environment where they feel safe, respected and able to enjoy the game.
Most concerns will not turn out to be serious safeguarding incidents.
Some may simply require a conversation, clarification or reminder about expected standards.
But apparently small concerns shouldn’t automatically be ignored.
If you see behaviour that concerns you, if your child tells you about something that doesn’t seem appropriate, or if you notice a pattern of behaviour that makes you uncomfortable, don’t assume somebody else already knows about it.
Raise it through the appropriate Park Regis Junior FC safeguarding channels.
It is much easier to address poor practice early than to wait until a small concern has developed into a much bigger problem.
