A&H

Am I right to report to safeguarding

S

Southerner In The North

Well-Known Member
Match today no real dramas apart from this and a delaying restart yellow

Incident is a tight offside call I’m doing my own offsides I judge him on goal given spectator takes exception and becomes aggressive was on away sideline so I go and speak to coach to help me send him away as this isn’t long till full time and don’t fancy a argument and potential issue at full time.
Coach says he has no clue who this man is he’s nothing to do with them.
I go to the home club who I know same story.
So I tell him we will not continue with him there so either leave or game will be abandoned he asks for a reason I explain I don’t feel safe with him there also as neither club knows you it’s also now a safeguarding issue another man chirps up with usual you can’t abandon we will report you even saying he feels unsafe now as I sent someone away this was u16s was I right to report to safeguarding officer as well as misconduct.
 
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Southerner In The North said:
Match today no real dramas apart from this and a delaying restart yellow

Incident is a tight offside call I’m doing my own offsides I judge him on goal given spectator takes exception and becomes aggressive was on away sideline so I go and speak to coach to help me send him away as this isn’t long till full time and don’t fancy a argument and potential issue at full time.
Coach says he has no clue who this man is he’s nothing to do with them.
I go to the home club who I know same story.
So I tell him we will not continue with him there so either leave or game will be abandoned he asks for a reason I explain I don’t feel safe with him there also as neither club knows you it’s also now a safeguarding issue another man chirps up with usual you can’t abandon we will report you even saying he feels unsafe now as I sent someone away this was u16s was I right to report to safeguarding officer as well as misconduct.
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Was there any risk in respect of the players? He may or may not have been known by one of the coaches, or may just be a random person watching the game, but only if you feel he was a danger to the young players would you have something to report.
What you should have perhaps done is consider which team would not want the game abandoned and talk to that team's coach with a gentle ultimatum, "sort it or the game is abandoned . . ."
Talking to the guy directly could have led to escalation, so was not the best idea.
 
Southerner In The North said:
both clubs would not help as
“he wasn’t one of ours”.
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Doesn't matter. All spectators are the responsibility of the home club.
This is obviously fraught with difficulty in public spaces, but ultimately it is them that has to deal with it. Whether they want to, know him, or not.
 
Not sure I see this as a safeguarding issue as it seems he was having a go at you and not any of the players.

It is difficult on public playing fields, but trust me if you take the players off the pitch and say you aren't restarting until the person has gone someone will go and have a word with him. They will of course initially say he is nothing to do with them, but once it is absolutely clear the game is about to be abandoned someone will sort it out.

Funnily enough there was an incident in a game I was observing at today where someone was abusing the referee but claimed he was just a spectator. I had extreme doubts as he was clearly coaching, albeit on the opposite touchline to where the other coaches and subs were. Sure enough he emerged from the changing rooms for the second half in kit and was a player who had turned up late.
 
RustyRef said:
Not sure I see this as a safeguarding issue as it seems he was having a go at you and not any of the players.

It is difficult on public playing fields, but trust me if you take the players off the pitch and say you aren't restarting until the person has gone someone will go and have a word with him. They will of course initially say he is nothing to do with them, but once it is absolutely clear the game is about to be abandoned someone will sort it out.

Funnily enough there was an incident in a game I was observing at today where someone was abusing the referee but claimed he was just a spectator. I had extreme doubts as he was clearly coaching, albeit on the opposite touchline to where the other coaches and subs were. Sure enough he emerged from the changing rooms for the second half in kit and was a player who had turned up late.
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I trust you'll be putting a report into the relevant CFA for the player's abusive language 😉
 
Reminds me of a story I heard (may be true,may be a bit of an exaggeration.) It involves a now defunct local RU team who shared a ground with their local non league football team who were big cheeses in non league for a time and just missed out on a league place. They too are now defunct.
Anyway this RU team shared this ground which had a capacity of a few thousand,but their attendances were barely a few hundred. One Sunday they were short of players and genuinely sent somebody out around the ground asking for volunteers,most likely hoping for an enthusiastic local Rugby player. I believe the RU club had an amateur status so could hastily sign players on an amateur basis. RU did this until until about the last 20 years or so? And they asked a local lad who was there watching and was a neighbour of my best friend and was a known alcoholic,if he fancied a game 'No thanks mate,I only come here to get pissed' was his reply.
I suppose my point is that if somebody with alcohol problems is willing to pay for somewhere to go and drink until they are blotto (this was back when alcohol was easy to get into sports venues) then a random spectator on a park pitch could easily be an alcoholic or substance abuser unknown to either team and the obvious threat of violence is there. So you are correct to confront the issue but wrong to approach the person themself.

Sorry for the long winded reply but that takes about 20 seconds to say but 20 minutes to type.
 
george.g said:
Whether its seen as being explicitly a safeguarding issue or not, I'd argue my training gave me the impression, if in doubt, report it.
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Just to piggy back on this: report it and if it's not reported to the right people, the people you report it to will help you get it into the right hands.
 
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