Welcome to the 1874 Northwich FC Safeguarding page.
Every child or young person, who plays, or is involved in football, should be able to do so in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from poor practice and abuse. This is the responsibility of EVERY adult involved in the sport. Here at 1874 Northwich FC, we acknowledge our responsibility to safeguard the welfare of every child and young person who has been entrusted to our care and we are committed to providing a safe environment. As a result, we subscribe to The Football Association’s (The FA’s) “Safeguarding Children – Policy and Procedures”. Our safeguarding arrangements apply to all teams in our Junior Section (1874 Northwich Juniors FC) and to any U18 player who is playing adult football for the Club, ( U21 or Senior team). We support football specific campaigns such as Play Safe and Respect.
We have two safeguarding policies, one for the junior section and one for 16/17 year olds playing in the adult teams. These can be accessed using the links below.
1874 Northwich Juniors – Safeguarding Policy
1874 Northwich Open Age – Safeguarding Policy
Junior Section
1874 Northwich Juniors FC places the well-being, safety and enjoyment of each player above everything, including winning. We will abide by the relevant Youth Football League Codes of Conduct and have adopted the FA Respect Codes of Conduct. In order to ensure that we provide a safe and non-threatening environment for youngsters to enjoy, we expect parents, spectators and players to behave in accordance with the appropriate codes of conduct below.
Code of Conduct Young Players,
Code of Conduct Parents and Spectators,
The FA has produced a 25-30 minute online course outlining how parents and carers can also play a vital safeguarding role in football. We recommend that all people who watch Junior Football have a look at the information in the course.
Safeguarding for Parents and Carers
Codes of conduct also apply to our coaches and officials. In addition, we insist that our Club Welfare Officer (CWO) and managers / coaches all hold current FA accepted Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Enhanced with Barred List Checks and have completed safeguarding children training. This is indicated by the wearing of League issued armbands at matches and training.
Code of Conduct Coaches
Open Age Football
We recognise that those aged 16/17 years-of-age are legally defined as children and therefore we have a responsibility to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for any young player who is part of either our U21 or our senior squad. In addition to our open age safeguarding policy, we have a code of conduct for adult teams and spectators and we publish our expectations for the behaviour of spectators in our matchday programme. This information is available below.
Code of Conduct – Adult teams
Code of Conduct – Spectators
Programme Article – Respect
Safeguarding Documents
Here at 1874 Northwich FC, we have developed a number of processes and procedures to help us provide a safe environment for our young people. In addition to the codes of conduct and policies referenced above , we have procedures and policies for other aspects of safeguarding, some of these are listed below:
1874 Anti-bullying policy
SG30 Responding to disclosures etc
SG30App1
Reporting Safeguarding Concerns
If you have concerns regarding your child, or another child involved at 1874 Northwich, you should report it. The first point of contact in most instances is the Club Welfare Officer.
A child or young person may inform you directly that he or she is concerned about someone’s behaviour towards them or you may become aware, through your own observations or through a third party, of possible abuse occurring.
There are five ways to report a concern:
- To the Club Welfare Officer – cwo@1874northwich.com;
- To the Cheshire FA Designated Safeguarding Officer – Safeguarding@CheshireFA.com;
- By emailing The FA Safeguarding Team at Safeguarding@TheFA.com or by calling and asking for the team on 0800 169 1863;
- If urgent and you cannot contact the club, league or County FA Designated Safeguarding Officer, you should call the NSPCC 24-hour helpline on 0808 800 5000;
- If it is an emergency because a child or children are at immediate risk, then call the Police (999) or Children’s Social Care in your area.
Any adult or young person with concerns about a colleague’s conduct towards a child or young person can also use whistle-blowing by calling 0800 169 1863 and asking for The FA’s safeguarding team, or via email to Safeguarding@TheFA.com.
Who’s Who
If you have any concerns or questions, support is available from the safeguarding team, which consists of the following people:
At club level, the designated safeguarding officer is the Club Welfare Officer – Maggie Coats.
- Email: cwo@1874northwich.com
- Mob: 07808765110
There are Welfare Officers for each of the Leagues:
- Mid Cheshire Youth Football League level, the Welfare Officer is Zoe Crellin – email: leaguewelfareofficer@yahoo.com
The Cheshire FA Designated Safeguarding Officer is Nadine Crane who can be contacted at:
- Email: Nadine.Crane@CheshireFA.com
- Tel: 01606 302028
Other Agencies
The following agencies are available for further support:
- NSPCC Helpline – tel: Freephone 0808 800 5000
- Childline – Tel: 0800 1111
- Child Protection in Sport Unit – Tel: 0116 234 7278 / 7280
CEOP helps any child or young person under the age of 18 who is being pressured, forced or tricked into taking part in sexual activity of any kind. This can be something that has taken place either online or in ‘the real world’, or both. The CEOP Safety Centre has clear information and advice on what can be reported to CEOP, the reporting process and what will happen if you do decide to make a report. You can visit the CEOP Safety Centre and make a report directly to CEOP by clicking the Click CEOP button.
If you are experiencing online bullying or something else online has worried you please speak to an adult you trust, or you can talk to Childline at any time on 0800 1111 or at www.childline.org.uk.
Additional FA Guidance
Our documents are based on the guidance published by the FA. A full list of their guidance is available in the resources section of the FA website, which can be accessed using the following link:
FA Safeguarding Resources