The Football Association’s Child Protection in Football Research Project 2002–2006: rationale, design and first year results

Abstract

In common with most sport organizations, the English Football Association has come relatively recently to the issue of child protection. Abuses of various kinds have been known about in the sport for many years but, until the late 1990s, very little systematic work was undertaken to address them. The launch of a Child Protection Strategy by the English FA in May 2000 reflected recognition by those in authority within the sport that child abuse and protection were properly the subject of football policy and should become embedded in all aspects of the affiliated game. In addition to adopting child protection, the then-Chief Executive Officer of the FA made a commitment to evidence-based policy in his strategic plan for the game. In line with this commitment, the FA commissioned a 5 year study of the impact of child protection on the game, the first year of which constituted an audit of the state of child protection in the affiliated game. Data were collected through 11 internet surveys, 32 club case studies, over 200 interviews with various stakeholders and an analysis of 132 case files for child abuse referrals. This paper sets out the context of child protection in sport more generally and the background to the FA's child protection research project in particular. It also presents selected first year results for key stakeholder groups.

Measuring the impact of child protection through Activation States

“…The sample profiles (see Figures 3a and b) are used here to present some of the results from the project thus far (Brackenridge et al, 2002(Brackenridge et al, , 2003(Brackenridge et al, , 2004 and to depict the activation states profiles for each stakeholder group. In the samples, the respondents' most commonly observed (modal) Activation States from the interview data are presented.…”

“…In order to monitor the effectiveness of this strategy and its impact on the game, the FA commissioned a longitudinal research project. This article briefly sets out the background to the project (which is more fully described in Brackenridge et al, 2004). The main purpose of the article, however, is to explore the conceptual difficulties of measuring the impact of an initiative such as CP on the culture of a sport organisation.…”

Goffman, Identity and Organizational Control: Elite Sports Academies and Social Theory

“…In short, authoritarian management styles, a culture of subservience, and a conformity to strict behavioural norms remain central features of trainee life. Indeed, wider research reveals that such institutional practices appear to have become a dominant part of the cultural landscape to which youth trainees within professional football are subject (see Brackenridge et al, 2004;Jones, 2006, 2014;Platts and Smith, 2009). Whilst large scale quantitative studies have been carried out to assess the impact of such environments upon youth trainees (Mills et al, 2014), further qualitative work is required that places emphasis upon the cultural constraints and 10 The Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) is a long-term strategy initiated by the English Premier League in 2012 which aims to improve the processes of youth development in the game and increase the number and quality of home-grown players who come through the club 'Academy' structures (see Premier League, 2011). institutional relations that seek to produce, structure and (re)make the social realities of young players.…”

Sporda Çocuk Koruma Programı Uygulamaları: İngiltere Örneği

“…Bütün bu çalışmaların ortak amacı genişletilmiş bir çocuk koruma sistemi yaratmaktır. 2001 yılındaki federasyon stratejik planında ise FA'nın bütün organizasyon ve aktivitelerinde Sporda çocuk korumanın da yer alacağı belirtilmiştir ve "daha iyi bir gelecek yaratmak için futbolun öneminden" bahsedilmiştir (Brackenridge, 2004).…”

“…Spor devamlı olarak yada yoğun bir şekilde istismar olayları ile anılmaya başladığında, sporun imajı bundan kötü etkilenecek ve daha az aile çocuklarını spora yönlendirecektir. (Brackenridge, 2004). Sporda çocuk koruma ilgili çeşitli unsurlar, sporda çocuk koruma modelin farklı durumlarına odaklanmaktadırlar.…”