A new organisation has been formed to offer guidance, education and legal support to those working to protect children, young adults and the vulnerable in sport.
The Union of Safeguarding Officers, with a Mission Statement of “Every Child Safe, Every Voice Heard”, was formed by former Manchester City and Tottenham star Paul Stewart, who has spent almost a decade raising awareness of sexual abuse in sport, following his own harrowing experiences as a young footballer.
Many ISC delegates at our event at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2024 witnessed Paul’s story as he spoke about his mission to prevent what happened to him, ever happening again.
Paul has enlisted the help of another ex-footballer Ian Bishop, who has over 20 year’s experience of the youth system in the USA after a top-level career in England with Everton, Manchester City and West Ham United. Ian is General Secretary of USO, Paul is Chair of the Board.
They hope the union will provide support to both professionals and volunteers, tasked with safeguarding at their clubs and associations.
Paul on the need for an organisation like the Union of Safeguarding Officers:
“I meet Safeguarding Officers from all walks of life and not just at the professional and elite clubs, but in grassroots and in schools and all other sports. I always felt that they were left alone to do the job, with very little support and the job that they do is immense, because they are making sure that the children who are pursuing their dreams, are doing it in a safe environment and are trying to make it as safe as possible for them, without much back-up and support.
The players have a union, so do the referees, there’s the League Managers Association. There’s a lot of unions for all these different job titles, but I always felt that safeguarding officers don’t deal with the best stuff all the time.
Generally, what they are dealing with is difficult scenarios, so I just felt that there should be somewhere for these individuals to be able to go if they are in dispute, then try and talk to them about the dispute, educate them if they want further education so we can upskill some of the welfare officers that are dealing with an awful lot of children.”
Ian on the challenges facing Safeguarding Officers:
“That was one of the biggest realities for me over the last few months, speaking to the Heads of Safeguarding officers and learning how vulnerable they seem and how vulnerable they feel. We figured that with this union, they need support and somewhere to go.
If you think of the emergency services and first responders and the things that they see, this is a similar thing. These people are hearing these stories and seeing them first hand and it must effect them and their mental state.
This needs to be out there in the open and we now need to be putting protocols in place that stop predators from wanting to be in these easy to access places.”
How to join the Union of Safeguarding Officers:
You can register your interest in membership of the Union of Safeguarding Officers at https://theuso.org.uk/join-us