Raise a safeguarding concern

Most of this guide is about the season going to plan. This page is for the day something doesn't: a comment that crossed a line, the way an adult spoke to a child, something you saw and can't quite let go of. The club would always rather hear about it than not, and it doesn't need to be certain or serious before you raise it.

Every club has a Member Protection Information Officer (MPIO). Their job is to listen, explain your options, and make sure a concern reaches the right people. Clubhouse gives you a private way to reach them.

• If a child is in immediate danger, call 000 first. The app is for raising a concern with the club, and nobody watches it around the clock. This is our advice rather than something the app tells you, and it matters more than anything else on this page.
• To find the page, tap your name or photo (at the top of the screen on a phone, at the bottom of the sidebar on a computer), choose Settings, then Safeguarding & member protection.
• The page opens with the club's position (Everyone has the right to feel safe), then the MPIO's name, email and phone number. If you'd rather talk than type, call or email them directly from there.

Concerns are read by the club's MPIO, and where the club has more than one, every active MPIO. Your child's coach, the committee and the club's admins don't see them.

There is one exception, and it's deliberate. A club admin can be given emergency access to the club's concerns, for cases like the MPIO role being vacant or a concern that's about the MPIO. It needs a written reason, the access expires after seven days, and it's logged on the concern for the MPIO to see. So access outside the MPIO can happen, but never quietly.

That separation is what lets you raise a concern about a coach or a committee member without it crossing their desk.

Tap Raise a concern (Confidential — only the MPIO can see what you share). The form has four parts:

12

— enlargeExpand

1. What is your concern about? (1) Choose the closest: Child safety, Bullying, Harassment, Discrimination, Code of conduct or Something else. It helps the MPIO sort it, so don't worry about picking exactly the right one.
2. What happened? Write it in your own words. The box suggests Include names, dates, or places if you can, and those details are what make a concern possible to act on. It needs at least a sentence before it will send.
3. Submit anonymously (2). Tick it and your name and contact details aren't stored at all, so even the MPIO won't know who sent it. The trade-off is in the form itself: They may not be able to follow up with you directly.
4. Your relationship to this (optional), if you're not anonymous: It happened to me, I'm a parent / guardian, Something else, or Prefer not to say.

Tap Send privately. The form changes to Concern received, thanking you and saying the MPIO will be in touch.

If you sent it anonymously, that message still says the MPIO will be in touch, but they have no way to reach you. If you'd like a reply, send it with your name, or contact the MPIO directly.

You can send up to three concerns in 24 hours. Past that, the form asks you to wait a little while or contact the MPIO directly, which is the better route for anything urgent anyway.

The moment a concern arrives, every active MPIO at the club is alerted by notification and email. The alert says only that a concern has been raised and what kind it is. What you wrote stays inside Clubhouse, where only they can open it.

The MPIO keeps a private record of the concern: acknowledging it, noting each contact, and where it needs to go further, referring it to the club committee, Football NSW, the Office of the Children's Guardian or the police. Concerns are never deleted. Even a closed one stays on the record.

At the bottom of the page, under Other places you can go, are the people outside the club:

• Football NSW Member Protection, for a concern about the club itself, or one you'd rather raise outside it.
• Office of the Children's Guardian, the NSW regulator for child safety.
• Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, for a child or young person who needs someone to talk to, any time.

Your club may also publish guides and policies under Helpful information on the same page.

• You saw Concern received.
• If you gave your name, expect the MPIO to be in touch.
• If it can't wait for that, call the MPIO on the number at the top of the Safeguarding page, or call 000 if a child is in danger.