4.7 Links between safeguarding and disciplinary processes

‘The chair of our disciplinary committee rang my manager for advice. He was dealing with a complaint about a male coach that was made by two female athletes. The allegations were that the coach unfairly favours some members of the team and ignores others, and that he responds to criticism by becoming verbally abusive. Based on the complaint, the chair of the disciplinary committee was initially looking into this matter as a complaint about bullying.

However, after speaking to the two athletes who made the complaint, he was concerned that the situation was more serious and had wider implications for the safety of the athletes. I was asked to meet with the committee chair to offer advice and discuss a way forward.

During the interviews with the two athletes, it was clear that the coach liked to hug and kiss his favourite athletes and invite them to his home for meals and drinks. The athletes said the coach expected his favourite athletes to go along with this, and those who refused were verbally abused and lost their place in the team. Most athletes were in their early twenties plus a few teenage girls. Some athletes had started to think that this was the price they had to pay to play sport.

This situation has highlighted the need for close links between the organisation’s safeguarding and disciplinary functions. This helps make sure that safeguarding issues from disciplinary processes are passed on to me as the Safeguarding Lead. The disciplinary committee chair also recognised the need for the committee to receive safeguarding training from me. I also saw that I needed to better understand our organisation’s disciplinary processes.’