Northowram Junior FC is lending its full support to Play Safe – a national FA-led campaign to raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding in football.

Play Safe is being run in partnership with the NSPCC and has the full backing of the Premier League, EFL, Barclays FA Women’s Super League and the FA Women’s Championship. It’s also supported and being run across every other level of the game.

The main element of Play Safe is a series of short films which emphasise the importance of clubs such as ours having safeguarding as an everyday reality. The films also explain to parents/carers and children themselves what to do if they feel unsafe or worried because nothing matters more than making sure football is safe for everyone, especially children and young people.

You can see these films below.

Play Safe - Officials
Play Safe - Children
Play Safe - Parents & Carers

“As a youth team coach, I will be working with my club to ensure we support the Play Safe messaging,” says FA Chief Executive Mark Bullingham. “I am also pleased that the campaign has the support of the former footballers with experience of abuse in football, who are on our Survivor Support and Safeguarding Advisory Group. The Group has collectively said:

“Learning from the past is crucial so that we can prevent the horrific experiences that happened to us and so many others in football, from happening again.

“As a group of survivors, we fully support the ethos and important messages that Play Safe conveys – whether to club officials, parents/carers and or vitally, children and young people themselves. Equally important is that Play Safe is not a one-off campaign – it will be used at key points in the football calendar to remind everyone in football, that children’s welfare and keeping them safe, should be at the heart of all that we do.”

As the Survivor Group points out, you’ll see Play Safe appearing at various points throughout the season to keep safeguarding front of mind in football. Together, we want to do everything we can so everyone – particularly children and young people – has a consistently positive experience of our great game.

“Play Safe demonstrates that the game is united in the shared goal to ensure safeguarding is embedded in everything we do, particularly when working with children and young people,” emphasises Sue Ravenlaw, The FA’s Head of Safeguarding.

“There are robust reporting systems in place across the game and The FA has a professional Safeguarding Case Management team. We continue to drive continuous improvements across the game through the Premier League and EFL Safeguarding Standards and the Safeguarding 365 Standard for County FAs, which emphasises the everyday place safeguarding has in football. Premier League and EFL clubs, as well as County FAs, are independently assessed to ensure the safer working practice is evident across the country.”

“Behind everything we have in place is one simple objective: to create fun, positive football settings where children and young people can enjoy the great game we all love.”

So whatever your role in football – whether an active participant or an administrator, please remember safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

At Northowram Junior FC we have a dedicated Club Welfare Officer who handles our safeguarding responsibilities to ensure that every child has a safe, secure environment to play football and to provide them with support when they need it. If you'd like to get in touch to ask for help or guidance - contact details can be found here.

You can find out more about the Play Safe campaign at thefa.com/playsafe.