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Play Safe Weekend 2022

We’re Backing Play Safe

The whole of football at every level will join forces on Saturday and Sunday 17th/18th September 2022 to promote Play Safe – football’s national campaign to focus attention of the vital importance of safeguarding in our national game.

It’s the second Play Safe weekend, the first of which launched the ongoing campaign in November 2021.

The campaign is officially supported by the NSPCC as well as the Premier League, EFL, Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship. It’s also being backed by every other level of the game across England.

This year’s focus is on the key role of parents/carers in safeguarding, with two main messages being conveyed:
• Are you aware of the vital safeguarding role you play in football?
• Please take the new, short and free safeguarding course specifically developed for parents/carers, which can be accessed here.

Play Safe Weekend Banner

As part of the lead up to the Play Safe Weekend the FA will be hosting three webinars in the week leading up to the weekend focusing around Mental Health for U18s, Awareness of the Importance of Safeguarding and Online Child Sexual Exploitation of Children (OCSE). Please find below the details of these webinars, the hosts and the link to the booking forms;

Tuesday 13th September
Dr Georgie Ford 
Due to a large volume of requests from clubs Dr Georgie Ford (PHD – Mental Health in Education) will be running an engaging and informative session on Mental Health for U18s. Georgie has a specialist interest in researching the alignment of mental health in education and inclusive curriculums and is an Emotional Literacy training provider. This session will be a basic introduction to the concepts and language of mental health and mental illness. Delegates will understand the importance of language when assisting those with mental health challenges and the most effective ways of offering support and information. 

Sign up here: Play Safe Webinar Booking Form (office.com)

Wednesday 14th September 
Paul Stewart
Paul Stewart is a former premiership footballer who played for Man City, Spurs and Liverpool, he was also capped 3 times for England. In 2016 Paul waived his anonymity and spoke about the physical and sexual abuse he endured at the hands of a youth coach as a 10 year old growing up in Manchester. Paul has joined the EFL’s Life skills team to raise awareness about the importance of Safeguarding. He has worked with the FA SFA and Premiership clubs delivering workshops to Academy Coaches/Parents/Players and his delivery whilst hard hitting also gives an insight into Safeguarding from a survivors perspective

Sign up here: Play Safe Webinar Booking Form (office.com)

Thursday 15th September
The Two Johns 
Over the past five years you may have seen either one of the ‘2 Johns’ present at numerous key events in relation to the Online Child Sexual Exploitation of Children (OCSE). They have completed interviews for BBC Breakfast TV, BBC Radio 4, Channel 4 TV and numerous other local radio stations and have presented in schools across the UK. The 2 Johns are both qualified Police Trainers and EST E-Safety Training offer a large range of bespoke training options. They are both CEOP Ambassador trainers and are qualified to deliver Think You Know (TUK) training courses. They trained every Youth Officer within Essex Police and qualified them to run E Safety assemblies in schools throughout Essex

Sign up here: Play Safe Webinar Booking Form (office.com)

 

The actual weekend will see staff from Gloucestershire FA,  Somerset FA and Wiltshire FA out and about in their counties visiting clubs, promoting safeguarding awareness and sharing good practice.