Nottinghamshire FA will join the rest of English football this weekend to promote Play Safe – The FA’s countrywide nationwide campaign to focus attention of the vital importance of safeguarding across our national game.

The Play Safe campaign is also endorsed by the NSPCC and will be supported this weekend [28-29 September] across every level of English football, including the Premier League, EFL, Barclays Women’s Super League, Barclays Women’s Championship, National League and across the grassroots game.

Nottinghamshire FA will be supporting Play Safe weekend by attending 2 KicKStart Youth Football League Central Venues this Sunday, 29^th September.

This year’s Play Safe campaign focuses on the safeguarding role that everyone can play – coaches, players, parents/carers, spectators or volunteers – to keep children and young people safe, no matter what the football setting.

To support the campaign, a series of Know Your Role videos have been launched across England Football channels, highlighting the different roles around football and everyone’s responsibility in safeguarding.

England Football has also produced a special video with three survivors of non-recent childhood sexual abuse in football, who share their experiences and discuss how safeguarding requires adults, including parents/carers to spot the signs, ask the right questions and speak up to prevent abuse from happening.

On the pitch, grassroots youth team captains will be wearing Play Safe armbands and youth team coaches wearing Play Safe pin badges, up and down the country in support, including in Nottinghamshire.

As part of this year’s Play Safe campaign, we are once again promoting the free England Football Learning online Safeguarding Awareness Course for Parents & Carers to raise awareness around safeguarding and how to report any concerns. The free course provides important information that guides parents and carers through questions they should ask to ensure the club or venue where children play football has the correct safeguarding policies, people and practices in place.

The FA’s Head of Safeguarding, Sue Ravenlaw, said: “The central push behind this year’s Play Safe weekend is to create awareness for the vital safeguarding role they can play in football. It really is about Everyone, Everywhere, Every Time.

“The Play Safe weekend is a fantastic way of highlighting the importance of safeguarding and putting this at the forefront of people’s minds, not just for this weekend, but throughout the season. This year, our campaign is for everyone to know their role in safeguarding, and we look forward to seeing clubs at every level of the game showing their support across the weekend, to make sure football is safe, fun, and enjoyable for all.”

You can read more about Play Safe 2024 here: https://www.englandfootball.com/playsafe

For more information on The FA’s Safeguarding Awareness course for Parents and Carers, click here.