Play Safe Weekend

The FA are this weekend promoting Play Safe, their countrywide nationwide campaign to focus attention on the vital importance of safeguarding across our national game.

The campaign is endorsed by the NSPCC and will be supported this weekend 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.

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. 

In addition, as part of this year’s Play Safe campaign, the FA are promoting their free online Safeguarding Awareness Course for Parents & Carers to raise awareness around safeguarding and how to report any concerns. The aim of the course is for 100,000 people from across the game to have taken the course, which only takes 30 minutes to complete, by the end of 2024. 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.

NSPCC Chief Executive, Peter Wanless, says: "Everyone has a role to play in preventing abuse and we’re pleased that the FA is again putting a spotlight on safeguarding awareness in football through the Play Safe weekend, which runs ahead of Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport Week 2-6 October. It’s great to see Play Safe is supported by every level of the game."

The FA’s Head of Safeguarding, Sue Ravenlaw, said: "The Play Safe campaign has been instrumental in helping us raise awareness for safeguarding across English football. It was very well supported last year, with over one million people reached through some truly innovative activations by many leagues and clubs. Together, with all the football family and the NSPCC, we want to build on that success, and we are encouraging anyone in football to take our Play Safe Pledge to support the campaign.”