Safeguarding and Child welfare
The FA currently has a campaign called 'We Only Do Positive' which aims to promote and educate coaches and parents on their roles in creating a fun, safe and inclusive environment for all the players, ensuring they have great experiences throughout their football journey.' This campaign is directly linked to the FA Respect Programme which started in 2008, brought in to minimise negativity on and off the pitch.
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Children will learn to love football when they feel supported and listened to. With positive input children can blossom over a football season and their self-esteem and confidence can be boosted enormously. As parents and spectators, your presence can be the best or worst thing a team can have depending on whether everyone follows the FA's spectators code of conduct as laid out below. See this attachment for more info
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SPECTATORS - CODE OF CONDUCT
• Have fun; it’s what we’re all here for!
• Celebrate effort and good play from both sides
• Always respect the Referee and coaches and encourage players to do the same
• Stay behind the touchline and within the Designated Spectators’ Area (where provided)
• When players make mistakes, offer them encouragement to try again next time
• Never engage in, or tolerate offensive, insulting or abusive language or behaviour
Any spectator not following the code of conduct can be asked to leave the pitch and in some cases be banned from matches. As adults, we are role models for the children and they need to see us behaving appropriately so that they, in turn, can manage their own emotions on the pitch. The teams all have dedicated coaches who give up their own free time for the love of the game and to support the children's overall development. This can be through learning ball skills, to learning how to win and lose graciously. The coaches are helping your children to learn how to show respect to everyone both on and off the pitch. They have all completed the FA child safeguarding courses and many are level 1 qualified coaches. The children do not need their parents or carers to coach them from the sidelines during a game or training session, no matter how well intended that advice may be. What they do need is to be able to hear their coaches instructions from the sidelines above anything else.
There is a code of conduct for the players also and as parents and carers, we need to support the children in upholding their part in this, in line with the agreements signed with the club pre-season. See this link for more information
PLAYERS - CODE OF CONDUCT
When playing football, I will:
• Always play my best for the benefit of the team
• Play fairly and be friendly
• Play by the rules and respect the Referee
• Shake hands with the other team - win or lose
• Listen carefully to what my coach tells me
• Understand that a coach has to do what’s best for the team
• Talk to someone I trust or the club welfare officer if I’m unhappy about anything at my club
• Encourage my teammates
• Respect the facilities home & away
If you do have any concerns please speak to your child's coaches initially, if you would like to speak to the Child Welfare Officer separately then you can email on childwelfarewootton@yahoo.com
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