Important information when reporting incidents to the County Welfare Officer
There appears to be some misunderstandings as to what happens when a report of poor practice comes into the county.
Firstly it is checked to see if there are any matters that relate to disciplinary procedures set down by the county e.g if the report is abuse towards a referee,player etc. has the referee included this in their report. If yes then this will be taken up by the Discipline Committee.
If there is no referees report then it will be passed to me to look at for any welfare issues that may have arisen.
I will then ask the club who have allegedly caused this issue for a written response either accepting, accepting with mitigation or denying the incident.They would also be asked to supply any witness statements supporting their version of events.
At the same time I will ask ( where I have details) the person/club who made the allegation to forward me any witness statements they have regarding the alleged incident.
It is then down to my department to decide on whether or not we have enough evidence to initiate discipline procedures against the club/individual.
Should we proceed with an action against a club/individual it will be carried out between ourselves and the club/individual concerned and will not be divulged to any third parties.Even if the third party concerned were the ones who initiated the original concern.
Anyone who has a Safeguading Children Workshop Certificate will be aware that the F.A operate a confidential/anonymous reporting system when it comes to reporting abuse or poor practice. This is done to protect an individual/club from possible repercussions from the person alleged to have carried these practices out.
We understand that those who report their concerns sometimes do not care if they receive anonimity or confidentiality but the county has taken the stance that any report received will be dealt with as though the county itself has instigated the concern. By doing this we believe that it minimizes the tension between the opposing parties and allows the clubs/individuals reported to concentrate any frustrations they have at the county.
As it is the county initiating the concern we feel that it is not necessary for the clubs/individuals who passed the concern to us to be party to the result of any discipline procedures that may arise from us dealing with the alleged club/individual.
However we can let those clubs/individuals who report a concern know that we will act upon every concern we receive at the county and that we will take actions against those where we find there is a case to answer.We will also continue to educate clubs/individuals to use best practice at all times and this will be done in conjunction with the rest of the Development Team within Somerset FA.
Nikki Neave
County Welfare Officer
Somerset FA Ltd