
Our Safeguarding Children Policy
Coulsdon Athletic Football Club are committed to providing a safe and friendly environment for our players and support the Football Associations Respect Campaign, who have adopted a new endorsement to present the Respect message.
The Football Associations message is “We only do positive” this is to promote what is expected of Clubs and its members, so basically leading by example.
All to often the players day is spoiled by bad behaviour from the side-lines, this often comes from both sets of supporters and invariably effects the players.
Some examples of how the players environment becomes hostile;
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Persistent Dissent to the referee, this is often picked up by players who are following their parents lead.
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Supporters that are to vocal shouting out orders to players, which confuses them because it is often different from what they are taught by their coaches leading to issues between the player and coaches.
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Confrontation with the opposition supporters often then picked up by the players of both sides, which then leads to disciplinary issues on the field of play.
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Players being singled out by supporters who chastise them.
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Threatening and violent conduct between supporters and against match officials that often end in a game being abandoned.
These are just a few of the issues that can change the environment at a match or cause distress to the players, there are many others.
The Club is responsible for its supporters, we would ask you all to reflect on what you might do to improve the match day experience, it may be that we need to report unacceptable behaviour from the opposition supporters to the League.
Having been involved in youth football for many years the Club Officials are aware that issues can erupt very quickly at matches, it might be a mistake by one of the match officials or a clumsy challenge by a player.Instead of fuelling the issue we could all calm the situation down through doing something Positive perhaps asking the aggrieved person to calm down, let the referee or the team coach deal with the issues. This is all very well but what if it is the opposition that are at fault, we should take note of the circumstances and report them to the Club. If you would prefer you can report them to the Clubs Child Welfare Officer Derek Harris.
Lets all try to improve the match day experience at our Club.
Regards,
Derek Harris
Club Welfare Officer
Club President Derek Harris 25 Brighton Road Coulsdon CR5 2B drharris@sky.com
Club Chairman Lee Byatt 56 Winifred Road Coulsdon CR5 3JE leebyatt.5156@gmail.com
Club Secretary Scott Morley 90 Braemar Ave South Croydon CR2 O QB s-morley@sky.com