The Premier League and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) have been working together to help provide children and young people involved in academy football or League-funded community programmes with positive football experiences since 2021/22.
This includes working together to develop an empowerment programme for children and young people, empowering them to build confidence and supporting them to speak out and be heard.
Building on this work, the Premier League and NSPCC have been working together to offer club staff the chance to participate in a "Train the Trainer" programme called "Safety Goals", which is a safeguarding awareness and empowerment programme to support and upskill staff in clubs and Club Community Organisations (CCOs) to deliver modules focused on promoting healthy relationships, celebrating difference and how they can feel supported to speak out if they ever feel unsafe.
One of the clubs involved in Safety Goals are Brentford, who have had three staff complete the training programme to date. The club are now looking to roll it out to their whole safeguarding and academy player support departments, with a view to extending it to staff in their Community Trust.
Head of Safeguarding (Football) and Academy Player Support at Brentford, Sam Bayford, said: “It’s important to use the medium of football to engage young people on topics that promote healthy relationships, respect for themselves and others, and to keep themselves and others safe.
“Doing so across their Academy journey, reinforces their learning, encourages players to be good people and helps create safe environments within professional sport, something that is crucial for successful player development and allowing young people to thrive.”
The Safety Goals resources created by the NSPCC for use in club academies aim to provide key messaging and information that can be delivered in innovative ways to different audiences, such as the players or host family parents.
Bayford added: “The resources and presentation skills experience is really positive for supporting staff development and improving the understanding of staff who are working with young people.
“The content and topics demystify safeguarding as something to be scared of, or something that is separate from people’s roles. The use of Premier League players in the content and videos within the resources allows for these topics to be supportive and engaging for the young people too.”