Play Safe campaign
We’re backing Play Safe
Herefordshire FA is lending its full support to Play Safe – a national FA-led campaign to raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding in football.
Play Safe is being run in partnership with the NSPCC and has the full backing of the Premier League, EFL, Barclays FA Women’s Super League and the FA Women’s Championship. It’s also supported by every County FA and is being run across all grassroots leagues and clubs.
The main element of Play Safe is a series of short films which emphasise the importance of having safeguarding embedded in all we do. The films also explain to parents/carers and children themselves know what to do if they feel unsafe or worried, because nothing matters more than making sure football is safe for everyone, especially children and young people. You can see these films below:
HFA Chief Executive Officer and Senior Safeguarding Lead Alan Darfi said: ‘’Safeguarding runs through the heart of everything that we do at the HFA and is a key pillar of our recently released 21 – 24 strategy.
The Play Safe films really bring home the importance of this area and I’m looking forward to seeing the game pull together to support this important campaign’’
HFA Designated Safeguarding Officer Anna Thomasson said: ‘’From my experience of working with the excellent volunteers responsible for safeguarding within clubs across the County, I know everyone will be looking forward to getting behind what is clearly a really important message.
Play Safe is a great initiative from both the FA and the NSPCC and I’m looking forward to helping everyone in the game support the key messages’’
FA Chief Executive Mark Bullingham notes: “As a youth team coach, I will be working with my club to ensure we support the Play Safe messaging. I am also pleased that the campaign has the support of the former footballers with lived experience of abuse in football, who are on our Survivor Support and Safeguarding Advisory Group. The Group has collectively said:
“Learning from the past is crucial, so that we can prevent the horrific experiences that happened to us and so many others in football, from happening again.
“As a group of survivors, we fully support the ethos and important messages that Play Safe conveys – whether to club officials, parents/carers and or vitally, children and young people themselves. Equally important is that Play Safe is not a one-off campaign – it will be used at key points in the football calendar to remind everyone in football, that children’s welfare and keeping them safe, should be at the heart of all that we do.”
As the Survivor Group points out, you’ll see Play Safe appearing at various points throughout the season to keep safeguarding front of mind in football. Together, we want to do everything we can so everyone – particularly children and young people – has a consistently positive experience of our great game.
You can read more about Play Safe on TheFA’s website here.