League Safeguarding and Welfare Policies Launched
Tue 27th September 2022 | Announcements | By Gary Langley
The North West Counties League have this week launched their latest updated League Safeguarding Policy and League Welfare documents following a full overhaul of its previous single document that was last updated prior to the pandemic.
A lot has happened in the world over the last 36 months and beyond, a period in which society has developed a lot more understanding of issues effecting young and vulnerable people, and of course the evolving obligations of society to look after and support people as well as anyone involved in a club or Matchday. This indeed includes all walks of life, leisure and sport included which was one of the reasons why we took our previous documents and standards, reviewed and re-written them to be more suitable for the modern era as well as to maintain compliance with modern legislation.
League Safeguarding and Welfare Officer, Gary Langley has been undertaking a number of meetings, courses and sessions instigated by the sporting industry to get a handle on what the latest issues are affecting young and vulnerable people in the sporting and volunteering genres and has incorporated this into these two re-written documents that have been reviewed and adopted by the Board and Management Committee of the North West Counties League Limited.
Speaking to the League website about the launch Gary tells us…. “This has been a priority for us for a few years now to bring in more relevant, flexible and updated Safeguarding welfare measures for the NWCFL and after a lot of work by the Board, we are in a position to implement these important policies as part of the day-to-day operations of the league.”
“This is arguably the biggest overhaul of our Safeguarding and Welfare provision since the late and much missed Dave Tomlinson was the custodian of our policies. Dave of course was involved in care and welfare away from football, so had a good understanding of industry standards, resources available and legislation in place, and this was one of my aims to repeat during this update.”
“I have a number of Safeguarding and Welfare obligations in my day job but having the opportunity to really research the current resources and legislations in place regarding this sensitive-but-key requirement on behalf of the NWCFL has been interesting and rewarding. We have split Safeguarding and Welfare into their own documents as well as making it clear the expectations of League Officials, Clubs, Volunteers and players as to what makes a safe, secure and legal environment for a football matchday and training environment.”
“All League Officials will have an active and mandatory training programme to follow and all clubs will also have to provide details of their Safeguarding and Welfare provision in a prominent way. This week is also symbolic for us as The FA are running it’s ‘Play Safe’ weekend on October 1-2 which is aimed at increasing awareness of Safeguarding practices and cultures at football clubs across England. The initiative is backed by all levels of the game as well as the NSPCC, the Premier League and the FA’s own Survivor Support and Safeguarding Advisory Group.”
Details of the FA’s Play Safe campaign can be found at thefa.com/playsafe and the Leagues Safeguarding and Welfare policies can be located on the League Info dropdown tab under Safeguarding and Welfare.
League Safeguarding and Welfare Policies Launched
Tue 27th September 2022 | Announcements
By Gary Langley
The North West Counties League have this week launched their latest updated League Safeguarding Policy and League Welfare documents following a full overhaul of its previous single document that was last updated prior to the pandemic.
A lot has happened in the world over the last 36 months and beyond, a period in which society has developed a lot more understanding of issues effecting young and vulnerable people, and of course the evolving obligations of society to look after and support people as well as anyone involved in a club or Matchday. This indeed includes all walks of life, leisure and sport included which was one of the reasons why we took our previous documents and standards, reviewed and re-written them to be more suitable for the modern era as well as to maintain compliance with modern legislation.
League Safeguarding and Welfare Officer, Gary Langley has been undertaking a number of meetings, courses and sessions instigated by the sporting industry to get a handle on what the latest issues are affecting young and vulnerable people in the sporting and volunteering genres and has incorporated this into these two re-written documents that have been reviewed and adopted by the Board and Management Committee of the North West Counties League Limited.
Speaking to the League website about the launch Gary tells us…. “This has been a priority for us for a few years now to bring in more relevant, flexible and updated Safeguarding welfare measures for the NWCFL and after a lot of work by the Board, we are in a position to implement these important policies as part of the day-to-day operations of the league.”
“This is arguably the biggest overhaul of our Safeguarding and Welfare provision since the late and much missed Dave Tomlinson was the custodian of our policies. Dave of course was involved in care and welfare away from football, so had a good understanding of industry standards, resources available and legislation in place, and this was one of my aims to repeat during this update.”
“I have a number of Safeguarding and Welfare obligations in my day job but having the opportunity to really research the current resources and legislations in place regarding this sensitive-but-key requirement on behalf of the NWCFL has been interesting and rewarding. We have split Safeguarding and Welfare into their own documents as well as making it clear the expectations of League Officials, Clubs, Volunteers and players as to what makes a safe, secure and legal environment for a football matchday and training environment.”
“All League Officials will have an active and mandatory training programme to follow and all clubs will also have to provide details of their Safeguarding and Welfare provision in a prominent way. This week is also symbolic for us as The FA are running it’s ‘Play Safe’ weekend on October 1-2 which is aimed at increasing awareness of Safeguarding practices and cultures at football clubs across England. The initiative is backed by all levels of the game as well as the NSPCC, the Premier League and the FA’s own Survivor Support and Safeguarding Advisory Group.”
Details of the FA’s Play Safe campaign can be found at thefa.com/playsafe and the Leagues Safeguarding and Welfare policies can be located on the League Info dropdown tab under Safeguarding and Welfare.
