This document discusses safeguarding children in sport. It argues that current approaches to child protection in sport focus too narrowly on procedures, perpetrators, and risks of harm, rather than the wider culture and children's holistic well-being. The document advocates listening to children's perspectives and priorities to better understand their actual experiences. Research suggests children experience more emotional abuse than is reported, and that behavior tolerated in sport would not be in other contexts. The document concludes sport safeguarding should promote children's voices, welfare, and involvement in decisions to build trust and create conditions for their own protection.

1. Standards in Sport
The invisible child and safeguarding in
sport

2. Childhood
“Children are not the
people of tomorrow,
but people today. They
are entitled to be
taken seriously. They
have a right to be
treated by adults with
tenderness and
respect, as equals.
They should be allowed
to grow into whoever
they were meant to be
- the unknown person
inside each of them is
the hope for the
future”.
Janusz Korzak

3. Introduction
• Understand that Wider lens required
to recent historical disclosures
• Young people’s wider experience of
football and sport needs to form part
of discussion
• The wide culture and ethics of sport
(professional) shapes experience
• Safeguarding - wellbeing, involve
children, so their priorities inform
the experience and contribute to
safeguarding

4. Lessons and limitations – the
invisible child
• Current Sheldon Inquiry (FA)
• Assumption that historical and couldn’t
happen now
• Focus on procedures and governance
• Calls to strengthen procedures (NSPCC)
• Child protection is a legal discourse,
focused upon individual ‘risk of significant
harm’(1989 Children Act)
• Focus on perpetrators and not wider culture
of sport

5. Listening to Children
in Sport

6. Participation Through
Sport (PTS)
• Challenged role of adult and involve children in
process of how sport and positive activities
experienced
• Embodied – social actors with distinct interests
• Listen, learn, reflect and act

7. Relationship between sport
child protection and
safeguarding
• Children in sport have little or no
understanding of child protection or
processes and concepts
• Safeguarding is about a child’s holistic
wellbeing and not simply risk
• Inclusion, Equality, Fairness, Safety
and Encouragement
• Holistic definition of what constitutes
harm

8. Listening to Children
in Sport
• Clear idea of how they wish to be treated
and involved
• Decisions: captains, positions, shirt
numbers, playing time
• Positive environment = fun, fairness,
inclusion, equality & encouragement
• Quality of experience and relationships more
important than game
• More likely to open up and trust coach
(adults) if involved in decisions

9. A mismatch? What we know
about disclosures within
sport
• 652 cases of abuse investigated within sport (2011)
• Physical(20.6%) and sexual abuse most frequently reported
in these cases of abuse investigated within sport
• Reporting of sexual harassment low 1.8% compared to sexual
abuse 19.1%
• 5 disclosures reported by athlete and 23 by parent (55%
behaviour within sport)
• 196 perpetrators completed CRB check and 58 completed
safeguarding training (Rhind, 2015)

10. A mismatch? The view
from the child
• 75% of abuse is emotional (Alexander and Stafford
2011) – prevalence/self report study of 6,000 former
athletes. Also found:
• Abuse within grassroots sport more likely to be
perpetrated by peers and elite sport coaches
• Normalising of behaviour that would not be tolerated
in any other context (John Amaechi)
• Until it Hurts (Mark Hyman)- ethics of sport
• Daily Telegraph Campaign 2016, 3731 incidents of
routine abuse towards children in football

11. Safeguarding - voice and
welfare of the child in
sport
• UN Convention on The Rights of The Child (1989)
article, 3, 12, 19 & 31
• Children Act, 1989, 2004
• Safeguarding Standards in Sport (2012)
• Gap between what constitutes abuse and discussion of
promoting welfare
• Missing ‘best practice’ and role of professional game
And its influence on grass roots

12. Conclusion -a children’s
model of sport
• Wellbeing, voice and trust linked to welfare
• Listening and responding to children’s
agenda would remove power differential and
inflated expectations
• Sexual abuse occurs within wider
environments
• Create conditions for them to play a part in
safeguarding of self and others

13. Bibliography
• Alexander, K, & Stafford, A. Children And Organised Sport (2011).
Dunedin Academic Press: Edinburgh.
• Brackenridge, C. (2004). Silent Voices: Consulting Children. Leisure
Services Association: Leeds.
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/626/4/LSA%2Bkeynote%2B23%2B9%2
B04.pdf.txt.
• Children Act (1989). London:HMSO
• Daily Telegraph. (2016) Abuse of Referees in Football Campaign,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/03/21/exclusive-referees-live-in-fear-as-grass-roots-game-
spirals-out/.
• Hyman, M. (2009). Until It Hurts. Beacon Press: Boston.
• International Sports Security Conference (2013). John Amaechi,
Integrity in Youth Sport, retrieved 19.03.2017from
https://thecpsu.org.uk/resource-library/2013/integrity-in-youth-
sport/.
• Kennedy, S. (2006). Why I Didn’t Say Anything. Insomniac Press:
Canada.

14. Bibliography
• NSPCC (2012). The Framework for maintaining and embedding
safeguarding for children within and through sport. CPSU: Sport
England retrieved 19.03.2017 from
https://thecpsu.org.uk/resource-library/2013/the-framework-for-
maintaining-and-embedding-safeguarding-for-children-in-and-
through-sport/.
• Participation Through Sport. (2008) Listening to Children in
Sport: Cheshire Safeguarding Board: Fair Play Productions
• Rhind, D., McDermott, J., Lambert, E., Koleva, K. (2015) A Review
of Safeguarding Cases in Sport. Child Abuse Review Vol. 24: 418-
426
• United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Retrieved, 19.03.2017 from https://www.unicef.org.uk/what-we-
do/un-convention-child-rights/.