Safe Sport Storyline #15
Safeguarding focus at African Schools Championships, Zimbabwe Rugby President accused of threatening women players, Dreamfields raises awareness, plus more news and resources.
Teachers, Officials, and Players undergo Safeguarding Workshops ahead of CAF African Schools Football Championship Finals
This week I had the pleasure of visiting the University of Ghana in Accra to contribute to Confederation of African Football (CAF) safeguarding activities during the CAF African Schools Football Championships.
The championships are for boy’s and girl’s teams competing in the under 15 years category from eight countries all competing for continental honours. Whilst football is at the heart of these championships, the safety and wellbeing of the children playing in these teams is a major priority for CAF.
For two days leading up to the start of the championship matches a series of workshops were held to increase awareness of safeguarding across teachers, coaches, and the teams including the young players.
I had the privilege of leading two days of workshops for teachers and coaches from Ghana with assistance from Obed Tuffour and Bernice Sarfo Bempah, Ghana Football Association safeguarding officers. We were also joined by Rose Zara Chitou from UNICEF Ghana who led activities that highlighted the rights of children.
At the Championships, safeguarding is being led by CAF’s Safeguarding Manager, Omar Amr with the safeguarding officers for the Championship being Sinko Bienvenue and Elizabeth Tall from WAFU Zone B. In addition, each of the 16 teams taking part in the competition have their own safeguarding officer who must be of the same gender as the team.
I also had the opportunity to speak with the event and team safeguarding officers and spoke about events such as these championships being high risk environments for abuse as children are away from their home environment and their normal protections. I stressed the need for safeguarding officers to be vigilant and conduct prevention measures to keep children safe.
A number of CAF Football Legends were present before and during the championships including Clementine Toure (Cote d’Ivoire), Robert Kidiaba (DR Congo), Abedi Pele, Asamoah Gyan, Adjoa Bayor (all Ghana), Amanda Dlamini (South Africa) and Kareem Haggui (Tunisia). They took the time to talk with the players in meetings with the teams as did Rose Zara Chitou from UNICEF Ghana who dynamically engaged the players on their rights as children and how they can conduct themselves so as to be safe and become their own best self.
It was a pleasure to reconnect with Amanda Dlamini who launched the safeguards for children in sport at The Beyond Sport Summit, Johannesburg in October 2014 on behalf of the International Safeguarding Children in Sport Working Group.
The CAF Safeguarding Programme was officially launched in 2022. It is designed to create safe and secure environments for football development across Africa. The programme is being promoted under the banner "Protect the Dream".
“It is important that we as CAF play our role in creating awareness and sustaining a secure environment that is devoid of any type of abuse, harassment or danger to all individuals involved – more especially children and women”, said CAF Director of Member Associations, Sarah Mukuna.
“While most attention naturally goes to the excitement of the matches on the field, it is equally important that in the background, CAF is working tirelessly to ensure that football grows and develops in a safe and secure environment for all that are involved”, she concluded.
Read more here
Zimbabwe Rugby Union President Accused of Threatening Women’s Team Players
The Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) is facing an unprecedented backlash after a recording was made public of its president, Losson Mtongwiza, in which he appears to be threatening and bullying players of the national women’s rugby team.
The recording has led to outrage and a petition demanding the suspension of Mtongwiza and Women’s Chairperson Regina Mwanandiwa, pending an investigation into harassment, intimidation, and abuse of office allegations.
Mtongwiza is heard on the audio recording saying “We’ll deal with you” which has been described as a chilling phrase that defines the Union’s toxic relationship with its women’s teams.
Read more here Find the online petition here Listen to what was said here
Dreamfields Implements Safeguarding Awareness Training
Since 2007, South Africa's Dreamfields Project has used sport to develop schools and communities, allowing over 65,000 learners to play football and netball weekly and nurture their dreams.
The project operates in 396 schools across nine provinces, employing 185 young community coaches. It supplies equipment, organizes competitions, and trains coaches.
Last week, the Dreamfields Project introduced safeguarding awareness training for their coaches and training for facilitators to deliver this training to their partner schools and communities in South Africa.
Donny Jurgens, a top sports development facilitator in South Africa, delivered this training in George, Western Province. Despite the wintry weather, efforts to raise awareness about safeguarding in sports continue.
RESOURCES
Sports Focus is an Australian non-profit organisation which aims to support and empower sporting clubs to be more safe, inclusive and welcoming spaces for the broader community to enjoy sport and active recreation.
Their website contains lots of useful information including free downloadable posters and videos (such as the video shown below) for safeguarding in sport.
You can access resources here
Developing a Safeguarding Plan: Your Guide to Safeguarding Children and Young People in Sport
Assessing risks in your sports environment is an important first stage in planning how to prevent abuse in sport and to create safe, inclusive, and enjoyable sports experiences for all participants.
Following a risk assessment sports organisations need to develop a robust safeguarding plan that provides a clear framework for the prevention of harm, promotion of player welfare, and how to respond effectively to concerns.
The NSPCC CPSU have developed detailed guidance to support the creation of a safeguarding plan tailored to meet an organisations contextual needs. Guidance that ensures organisations have the tools to identify potential risks, define responsibilities, and establish processes to keep children and young people safe.
Use this link to discover how to create a safeguarding plan and access a useful template that you can adapt for your organisation.
NEWS
US Centre for Safe Sport fires CEO amid crisis
The US Centre for SafeSport, created to combat sexual abuse in Olympic sports, fired its CEO Ju'Riese Colón on Tuesday, a move reflecting the depth of the crisis triggered after it was revealed that the organisation had hired an investigator later accused of rape and sex trafficking.
The firing of Colón, who took the position in 2019 to fully operationalise a then newly established entity, was confirmed by the organisation itself through an email to Associated Press. The presidency of the board now temporarily falls to April Holmes, who will lead a small committee of board members while a permanent replacement is selected.
Read the full story here
Bystander Intervention; What you said didn't sit right with me
Kindling Interventions co-founder Nathan Eisenstadt joined BBC Radio 5 Live’s Adrian Chiles to discuss Bystander Intervention: what it is, why people hesitate to step in, and how we can all be part of the solution. The conversation highlighted a common challenge: people often don’t act, not because they don’t care, but because they don’t know how. That’s why training and awareness matter.
Kindling Interventions help people move from passive concern to active intervention. Whether it’s in a football stadium, workplace, or public space, everyone deserves to feel safe.
Read the full story here
Mission 89’s Global Webinar Urges Action Against Sport Trafficking
In Safe Sport Storyline #12 we reported that South Africa’s counter-trafficking network, the National Freedom Network (NFN), partnered with Mission 89 to deliver an online webinar series titled “Not In Our Game.”
Mission 89 have published a report on the two webinars that were conducted as part of this collaboration.
You can read the report here
Player Unions help stranded player return home after being cheated by fake agent
Kenyan footballer Davis Agesa Amuzu thought he was joining a club in Malaysia. He was cheated by a fake agent and stuck in Malaysia for four months until the player associations in Kenya and Malaysia, supported by FIFPRO and FIFPRO Africa, arranged his return home.
Read the full story here
South African contributes to FIA research to tackle online abuse in sport
Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body for world motor sport and the federation for mobility organisations globally, hosted a landmark seminar this month, attended by over 100 FIA members and partners.
The online event provided a platform for the FIA’s United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) Research Scholars to share progress on their innovative projects which are generating critical new insights into underexplored aspects of online abuse in sport.
South African Roshni Gajjar was selected last year as one of the first four international recipients of the prestigious Global Research Scholarship, awarded by the FIA in support of its United Against Online Abuse (UAOA) campaign. She is studying strategic rationale and governance principles that support the combat of online abuse by federations across selected sports, including motorsport.
Read the full article here