Child welfare and safety

Wellingborough Town Football Club is committed to providing a safe and inclusive environment for children to enjoy and play football whilst supporting their development. We are therefore required to work to strict regulations and must follow the FA’s codes of conduct. Please ensure you are supporting, cooperating, and working with the managers and coaches so that we can continue to offer safe youth football to the community.

To help us ensure football is safe and enjoyable for all, please follow the instructions below:

Dropping and collecting children

Please ensure that for all children in school year 6 (U11 football age group) and below that a full, face to face handover takes place and that you collect your child from the area where training is being conducted. This enables the coach to give feedback to you but, importantly, ensures that we are confident that the child has been handed back safely to their respective parent / guardian. Leaving your child at the gate or dropping them off without checking that the coach is present is not acceptable and may put children at unnecessary risk.

Implementation of chaperones

As a further safeguarding initiative from the FA, we must have chaperones for each team at U11 and below to assist the coach when a child needs to be taken away from the training area for the toilet or other needs. All chaperones will need to have a criminal records check. Please let your child’s coach know if you would like to volunteer for this position.

Referees

Many of our games are refereed by young people under the age 18, these young referees are still learning and developing their skills, and during this journey will make mistakes. Please remember when this happens that these referees are still children and as such, we must ensure they receive the same respect, encouragement, and protection as the young players on the pitch. Spectators who are disrespectful to referees or match officials will not be welcome to attend our games.

Smoking policy

For the safety and welfare of our players, all training, matches, and club events operate a strict NO SMOKING policy, this includes e-cigarettes and vapes. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.

Safeguarding information

Northants FA have information on the safeguarding of children in grassroots football on their website, including resources for parents. Visit their website here.

Reporting concerns

If at any time you or your child are concerned about something that has happened at football, please do get in touch for a chat with me on 07917 162795 or by email.