The Irish FA strives to contribute to the sporting and social development of children and young people by presenting them with an opportunity to engage in Association programmes.
In order for football to be a positive experience for all children and young people, the Association expects high standards of behaviour to be demonstrated by all players so that everyone can benefit from the positive aspects of the game.
Children and young people have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a manner which does not bring the Association into disrepute. Any behaviour in breach of Code of Conduct may result in disciplinary action.
As a player participating in Irish FA programmes, I will:
Children and young people participating in Irish FA programmes have the right to:
The Irish FA requires adherence to all Codes of Conduct and will take appropriate action if any person is deemed to be in breach of a code as set out in this policy.
As primary carers for their children, parents and guardians assume overall responsibility for the positive development of their child and therefore have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a manner which supports this process.
Your club should expect all parents and guardians to promote the positive aspects of football by demonstrating exemplary behaviour at all times – this includes encouraging their child’s participation in the game, demonstrating respect for staff and officials and behaving responsibly on the sidelines.
Persistent breaches of the code may result in the parent or guardian being asked to stay away from club activities and may also result in their child being removed from the club.
As a Parent / Guardian I will:
Parents / guardians have the right to:
Match officials are responsible for officiating in a manner that not only upholds the rules of football, but promotes values to young people involved in Irish FA programmes.
Officials should always adhere to the rules of the game, to ensure that safety, respect and fair play prevail throughout a match. Quite often, match officials can evoke strong emotions both on and off the field of play. As a result, match officials are also bound by codes of behaviour, to which they are required to adhere to at all times.
When officiating a match, I will:
The Irish FA requires adherence to all Codes of Conduct and will take appropriate action if any person is deemed to be in breach of a code as set out in this policy.
While spectators are allowed to show support for their team and bring atmosphere to a football match, they sometimes display abusive and intimidating behavior.
This type of behaviour is unacceptable and needs to be eradicated from the game so that football can be an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. Spectators have a role to play in promoting high standards of behavior in the game so that everyone benefits from the positive aspects of football.
As a spectator at club activities, I will:
Staff and Volunteers during Away Trips
• Ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people, and place their welfare before all other considerations at all times.
• Provide a safe and fun environment for children and young people.
• Do not leave children and young people unsupervised at any stage during the course of the away trip.
• Show respect for everyone involved.
• Demonstrate equitable practice. Treat everyone involved equally and ensure they feel valued.
• Never engage in bullying behaviour. Bullying is unacceptable and must be challenged.
• Do not use any form of foul, sectarian, abusive or discriminatory language.
• Be a good role model at all times, and demonstrate a high standard of behaviour – this includes not drinking alcohol, smoking or taking illegal / performance-enhancing drugs in front of children and young people. Staff and volunteers must also ensure that they take care of their appearance and are presentable.
• Never take advantage of your position of trust.
• Ensure children and young people are presented with an opportunity to voice any concerns that arise during the course of the tournament or residential.
• Be punctual and arrive at all departing venues well in advance of children and young people so they are not left standing alone.
• Ensure children and young people stay in groups while in the departure area so that no child or young person is left isolated.
• Arrange a group meeting point prior to boarding the mode of transport (i.e. bus, plan, train).
• Undertake a health and safety risk assessment of the accommodation / facilities upon arrival.
• Ensure, where possible, that everyone is located on the same floor of the accommodation.
• Ensure that children and young people are designated ‘age-appropriate’ and same-gender rooms, and that each child or young person is designated an individual bed. Staff members must never share a room / bath / shower with a child or young person.
• Staff members should organise a rota to check that players are safely in their rooms at night. No staff member or volunteer should enter a player’s bedroom unless it is deemed necessary and unless they are accompanied by another adult staff member or volunteer.
• Familiarise the group with the emergency exits in the event of a fire, and agree a group meeting point – this includes at the stadium where the match(es) will take place.
• Ensure that children and young people cannot gain access to adult television channels or bar facilities in their designated bedrooms.
• Work in an open environment with children and young people at all times.
• Never exert unnecessary physical or emotional pressure / stress on children and young people.
• Avoid spending time alone with a child or young person and ensure that the team doctor and physiotherapist are accompanied by another member of staff when treating players.
• Do not engage in any form of inappropriate physical contact.
• Medical staff (i.e. Doctors and Physiotherapists) must always treat a child or young person for illness or injury in a manner that reflects the ethos of their profession. This includes not gaining access to or inappropriately touching players for personal satisfaction.
• Staff who are the opposite gender to the players must remain outside the changing room while the players are showering and changing.
• Refrain from using mobile phones in changing rooms unless it is an emergency situation.
• Should a child or young person have to remain in the hotel during the course of the tournament or residential due to injury or illness, try to ensure two staff members remain behind to look after their welfare.
• In the event that a child or young person falls ill, or is seriously injured, and has to remain behind after a tournament or match, ideally two members of staff should remain with the child or young person. Staff have a duty of care to ensure that the child or young person returns safely to their UK residing address.
• Children and young people should be allocated an appropriate amount of recovery time from matches and training so that they are not physically exhausted and susceptible to fatigue and injury.
• If ‘time off’ is permitted by the head coach, staff and players should sightsee or partake in recreational activities as a group. Staff should undertake a risk assessment for each excursion in advance. Mobile phone contact between the team administrator and / or head coach and players must always be in place during such excursions. Parents and guardians and children and young people should be informed of any free time and related supervision arrangements in advance of the trip.
• Ensure that all players partake in group excursions, so that no child or young person is left alone in accommodation. During excursions, staff should walk both in front of and behind players to ensure no one wanders off alone. Arrange a ‘meeting point’ for players in the event of a player becoming separated from the group. • Be approachable at all times.
• Make the match, tournament or residential an enjoyable experience for everyone involved.
• Demonstrate good listening skills.
• Recognise the different developmental needs and capacities of children and young people.
• Be positive by encouraging children and young people, and praising their efforts.
• Encourage team-work.
• Promote an ethos of fair play and respect.
• Ensure disciplinary procedures are in place should they be required.
• Have access to telephones and be contactable 24/7. Staff should have contact numbers for parents and guardians, and vice versa, in case of emergency.
Coaches and volunteers will create a positive football environment by displaying exemplary behaviour and implementing practices that make football a safe, fun and positive experience for all children and young people who participate in football. Football is a very passionate game that can evoke different emotions and reactions and sometimes these emotions and reactions can be negative and can spill onto the pitch. Coaches and volunteers have a responsibility to ensure their conduct does not compromise the welfare of a child or young person, or bring the sport or their club into disrepute. Any behaviour which compromises this ethos may result in disciplinary action.
As a coach / volunteer I will:
When coaching/volunteering children and young people I will:
The following actions will never be sanctioned. I will never:
The Irish FA requires adherence to all Codes of Conduct and will take appropriate action if any person is deemed to be in breach of a code as set out in this policy.
The following guidance applies to all forms of social media platforms
• Before engaging in social media use, staff and volunteers are required to seek permission from their line manager and to inform the Director of Football Development and the Child Welfare Department of their intentions.
• All social media accounts must be set up using an official Irish FA address, and never a personal one, in order to reduce the risk of the establishment of impostor or fake profiles.
• Staff and volunteers who use social media assume overall responsibility for managing and moderating their accounts. However line managers have a responsibility to police such accounts to ensure that all content is appropriate and in line with Association policies.
• Staff and volunteers have a responsibility to familiarise themselves with safety aspects pertaining to social media use – this includes awareness of what is considered acceptable and unacceptable behaviour as an employee / volunteer on a social-networking service.
• Staff and volunteers must keep abreast of current legislation and good practice guidance pertaining to social media companies and adhere to all relevant legislation relating to communications, e.g. Communications Act 2003, Malicious Communications Act 1998 etc.
• Staff and volunteers must be aware of how this policy feeds into other policies outlined in this document, i.e. the Equality and Anti-bullying Policies and the Reporting Procedures.
• Staff and volunteers have a legal and moral duty to respond to any indications that illegal activity (e.g. grooming for abuse) is taking place by informing the Child Welfare Department, who will refer the concern on to the relevant statutory agencies and service providers.
Staff and volunteers must:
• use their social-networking page as a communications platform only – mainly to communicate on a generic basis with parents and guardians and children and young people, e.g. ‘training has been cancelled tonight due to adverse weather conditions’
• ensure that the highest privacy and security settings remain activated at all times
• activate all swear filters in order to block any foul language from being disseminated to users
• where possible, monitor and view all written and visual content before accepting and posting it live
• delete and remove any inappropriate written content or images that would compromise the welfare of children and young people and / or the ethos of the Association
• be safety-conscious when adding content to an Association webpage / profile
• obtain written parental / guardian consent before posting pictures of children and young people who engage in Association activities
• communicate to third parties (i.e. spectators or venues) that it is their responsibility to obtain parental / guardian consent before passing on images of club activities to Association staff to be posted on social-networking sites. The Irish FA will not be held liable for third party actions.
• ensure, if using Facebook, that they only communicate with children over the age of 13 (in line with network provider’s guidelines), always through an official site, and that communication relates directly to Association activities (e.g. training / matches)
• not accept children or young people, who they are in a position of responsibility for during Irish FA programmes, as friends on their personal social-networking site
• respond to online bullying and report it to their line manager – what is said online should be treated as if said in real time
• never post any written or visual material that compromises the ethos and values of the Association
• post factual comments only. Do not enter into a debate regarding a match result etc.
• display details of their social-networking page on the Irish FA website so that children / young people and parents / guardians know that it is an authentic Association forum
• promote safe and responsible use of social media
• promote the safeguarding page and sign post users to this so that they can obtain links to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency (CEOP)
• maintain professionalism at all times
• adhere to all best practice guidelines, as outlined in this document
Staff and volunteers must never:
• become friends via their own social media account with young people for whom they are in a position of responsibility
• communicate or share images via their personal social-network account with children and young people involved in Association programmes
• post any written or visual material that compromises the ethos and values of the Association
• engage in inappropriate communication with children and young people
• engage in grooming behaviour or behaviour that could be misconstrued as grooming
• engage in bullying behaviour on social networking sites
• ridicule a child or young person by posting video images, whether intentionally or not. What may be funny to you may not be funny to others.
• use foul, abusive, sectarian, racist, discriminatory or sexualised language
• comment on individual players
Remember: Think before you post. If you wouldn’t say it in front of your mother or granny, then don’t post it!
All comments on Irish FA social-networking sites will be considered as public comment and will be treated as such. The Irish FA therefore reserves the right to take disciplinary action in cases involving social networking where the welfare of a child or young person is compromised or where the actions of a staff member / volunteer bring the Association into disrepute.