Child Protection


Bottesford Town Football Club acknowledges its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person who has 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 activity. We subscribe to The Football Associations child protection and best practise policy and procedures and endorse and adopt the policy statement contained in that document.

The key principles of the 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 sport should be able to take part in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practise and abuse.

Bottesford Town Football Club recognises that this is the responsibility of every adult involved in the Club.

Bottesford Town 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 the child protection policy applies to everyone whether in a paid or voluntary capacity. This includes those who are a volunteer, match official, helper, coach, club official or medical staff.

We endorse and adopt child protection and best practise guidelines for recruiting volunteers and will

develop a role profile

request identification documents

as a minimum meet and all applicants and conduct interviews before appointing

request and follow up with references before appointing

All current Bottesford Town Football Club members with direct access to children and young people will be required to complete a CRB Enhanced Disclosure. If there are concerns regarding the appropriateness of any individual who is already involved or who has approached us to become part of Bottesford Town Football Club guidance will be sought. It is noted and accepted that we will consider the relevance and significance of the information obtained from the CRB disclosure and that all decisions will be made in the best interests of children and young people.
It is accepted that we aim 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 practise with children or young people. This is to prevent direct sexual or physical harm to children and to minimise the risk of ‘grooming’ within sport.

Bottesford Town Football Club will appoint a Club Welfare Officer and be required to complete a child protection and best practise workshop. The post holder will be involved with designated persons training and will be 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 also play a proactive role in increasing an awareness of poor practise and abuse amongst club members.

We acknowledge and endorse the 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 Club Welfare Officer, a member of the committee.

Codes of conduct for players, parents or spectators, officials and coaches have been implemented by Bottesford Town Football Club.

In order to validate these codes of conduct the Club has clear sanctions to deal with any misconduct at club level. All prospective members will be informed of these codes.