“The safety of children is paramount and all of us have a responsibility to ensure that they are safeguarded,” said the Minister. “This is an important step taken by the WRU and I would like to congratulate them for taking it. I have already mentioned the scheme in the Assembly to ensure it gets as wide a range of support as possible.
“It is great to see a player like Ryan Jones being used as a ‘Children’s Champion’ as part of this campaign. Young people need to be identifying with people like Ryan.
“While we must continue to recognise the vital part volunteers play in the delivery of sport throughout our communities, child protection is everyone’s responsibility.
“Children and young people have a right to feel safe in whatever situation they are – whether at home, in school or at play. This includes sporting activities and the Welsh Rugby Union is to be commended for what it is trying to achieve.”
There are more than 18,000 children and young people playing regular rugby in Wales at more than 200 community clubs and associations. These young people rely on an army of volunteers to act as coaches, referees and officials in order to achieve their full potential. While fully acknowledging the many thousands of hours these volunteers put into the grassroots of rugby in Wales, as the largest sports governing body in Wales, the WRU intends to lead by positive example when it comes to safeguarding children in sport.
The initial goal in the WRU’s drive on child protection is to encourage everyone who has direct access or responsibility for children or young people within rugby to undergo a Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) check. The next stage will be to provide child protection training and learning to every club in the country.
Already more than 1000 CRB checks have been completed, although the WRU’s Child Protection Unit is appealing to individuals who have not yet completed a CRB Disclosure form to do so as soon as possible. They are also actively encouraging clubs to nominate a specific Child Welfare Officer.
“This is an easy but very important process to ensure that all our children can continue to take great pleasure from playing rugby in a safe environment while achieving their potential at every level,” said WRU Chief Executive Steve Lewis. “We know that a lot of what we have set out to achieve is ambitious and particularly the process of getting everyone working with children to undertake a CRB Disclosure, but the WRU is determined to achieve this as it believes safeguarding children is and must always be a priority.
“While we recognise the importance of volunteers to community rugby in Wales, it is also important for clubs to realise that they could be held responsible if any child were to be put in danger in any way.”Â
While there is no enforceable law to ensure all volunteers working with children undergo formal checks, the WRU believes it is best practice to do so and that it is important clubs recognise they could be held responsible for the actions of their officers and volunteers.
The Welsh Rugby Union hopes that by highlighting the importance of child protection in sport, other, smaller governing bodies will also benefit.
The WRU will be utilising the services of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA), a registered umbrella organisation, to complete its CRB Disclosures. The WCVA undertake these procedures free of charge for any one working in a volunteer capacity.
The WRU is inviting anyone working with children to contact the nominated child welfare representative at their club or District in order to go through the process of undertaking a CRB Disclosure.
Alternatively they can call the WCVA CRB Unit on 01492 539 898 (English) and 01492 539 899 (Welsh).
“Simply completing a CRB Disclosure form can weed out people with convictions that would make them unsuitable to work with children. This is the first part of our drive on child protection, which includes the creation of an informative child protection page on our website (http://www.wru.co.uk/), and a dedicated child protection phone number for people to report all concerns in confidence – 07738 311 366,” said WRU Child Protection Consultant, Mark Williams-Thomas.
“The next step which kicks in from September will be to provide rugby specific Child Protection and Best Practice Workshops to the clubs, providing learning and understanding thus creating a positive environment for children and young people to play rugby in.
“We are delighted that Ryan Jones has accepted the role of Children’s Champion as he sees how important it is to safeguard children in sport. He has accepted this role to encourage clubs and participants that child protection is vital for the future of rugby.”
Greta Thomas, Director NSPCC Cymru/Wales, also welcomed the WRU’s new child protection policy.
“The WRU is taking an important step towards protecting children under its care by working with NSPCC Cymru/Wales to carry out CRB checks on staff,” she said. “Children should be protected from harm and organisations responsible for children’s activities should take all the necessary steps to ensure the safety of children and young people under their care. This includes requiring all staff and volunteers to undertake CRB checks.
“We would now urge other sporting organisations in Wales to support this movement towards protecting children in the community. For further information on how to implement a child protection policy or how to go about performing CRB checks, please contact NSPCC Cymru/Wales on 029 2026 7000 or visit www.thecpsu.org.uk.
