As football marks Play Safe weekend, we take a look at how the Premier League Charitable Fund is working with EFL in the Community to support safeguarding leads across club charities.
This weekend's annual Play Safe campaign spotlights the importance of safeguarding and creating an ever-safer culture across the game.
As part of its three-year (2022 to 2025) £1.6 billion funding provision for communities and football at all levels, the Premier League provides financial support to 106 Club Community Organisations which each deliver work in their local communities.
All 106 professional football club charities are supported by the Premier League Charitable Fund, the charitable arm of the Premier League, to become safer, stronger, more sustainable organisations.
Club charities adhere to a single set of Safeguarding Standards as part of the Capability Code of Practice, which are a prerequisite for all funded organisations.
Developed by the Premier League Charitable Fund in partnership with EFL in the Community, these standards include having in place effective safeguarding policies, procedures, and practices to promote and protect the safety and welfare of vulnerable groups.
Each organisation also embeds a culture of accountability and continual improvement, with a designated senior staff member holding responsibility for safeguarding arrangements.
To support their continual improvement, last summer, the Premier League Charitable Fund joined forces with EFL in the Community to deliver an inaugural safeguarding conference for designated safeguarding leads across club charities.
More than 85 delegates representing 80 club charities from across the Premier League and EFL joined the conference at Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux Stadium, designed to ensure that everyone, regardless of their position in the club or charity, knows and understands the role they play in safeguarding participants.
Stephen Hale, Liverpool FC Foundation's Designated Safeguarding Manager, was one of the delegates.
"The safeguarding conference met a specific need of my day-to-day work," he said. "Training, supervision and trustee engagement are all key areas of focus for our Strategic Safeguarding Plan for 2024/25, so these workshops couldn't have been more helpful."
To ensure the content was applicable to clubs across the leagues, the safeguarding conference was developed in partnership with representatives from club charities, including Brighton and Hove Albion Foundation, Burnley FC in the Community, Carlisle United FC Community Sports Trust, Charlton Athletic Community Trust, Swansea AFC Foundation and Notts County Foundation.
"The conference was a brilliant opportunity for learning and connection with other club community organisations across the network," said Lucy Devine, Notts County FC Community Deputy Health Manager and Designated Adult Safeguarding Lead.
"It contained a fantastic blend of workshops and talks covering very relevant and useful topics. It was an inspiring day and resulted in lots of learning and ideas to take back to the organisation."
Working together to explore independent safeguarding reviews, safeguarding training and effective trustee engagement, the conference also highlighted the importance of taking care of yourself while taking care of others, and understanding the role everyone plays in making football a safe space for all.
One coach who understands the importance of taking care of others and creating positive environments both on and off the pitch is Cabdi Shakur Mahamed, Youth and Communities Officer at Aston Villa Foundation.
Cabdi, a former Premier League Kicks participant, who now works across Aston Villa Foundation's Premier League Kicks and Premier League Inspires programmes, said: "I'll sum up the Premier League Kicks programme in four words: safe, fun, inclusive and inspiring.
"In my life, the Premier League Kicks programme has had a massive impact.
"For me, it offered a lot of different pathways, multiple opportunities, as well as a safe, engaging environment where I played structured football every night of the week. Now coaching my young players, playing in the same thing, is a surreal moment."
Led by The Football Association, the Play Safe campaign is endorsed by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and will also be supported by the EFL, Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship and across the grassroots game.
