Every club has a duty of care to ensure adults and children can take part or watch sport safely.
Pitchero offers a range of online safeguarding features for clubs that are important to highlight here. These will be part of a wider strategy incorporating advice from your sport's governing body.
Roles and access
By assigning specific roles with different levels of access, clubs can ensure the right person sees what they’re allowed to - and keeps content private, if necessary.
There is a hierarchy of roles and access (Primary Webmaster, Webmasters, Team Admins, authorised members, Supporters).
Supporters can only view content posted publicly on the website - but the other roles above all need approval from the club.
This gatekeeper approach means the club can stop, reduce or enhance access for anyone, depending on changing circumstances.
These website roles on Pitchero give varying levels of access to privately posted content. This is vital for safeguarding so only those who have had appropriate training can view, edit, comment or share.
Moderation & Image Scanning Technology
Incoming content sent to the club for use on the website can be moderated to ensure it meets safeguarding standards.
A Webmaster will be sent a notification of pending content to approve or reject.
Moderating a club photo album or moderating a video is easy via the Club Control Panel.
Club officials can approve, reject, choose whether it is public or private and viewable by the whole club or a specific team.
As an extra measure, Pitchero has its own image detection software (a system that flags any inappropriate images which we will then moderate/remove internally).
Privacy
A club can decide what content is public or private. This relates to:
- Club content (documents, photo albums and videos)
- Team content (squad and stats pages, player profiles and team selection)
Here’s how to manage your club privacy settings.
SSL on all Pitchero websites
An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is a form of online safety that encrypts internet traffic and protects the privacy of your users.
Not all websites have an SSL certificate, you have to obtain one. The address then begins with https:// and a padlock will show in the browser bar.
However, SSL certificates are used across all Pitchero websites and will keep data secure, confirm ownership of the website, stop attackers from creating a fake version of the site, and enhance user trust.
Online security is a priority at Pitchero and clubs have peace of mind that private content requires a password and that secure login is itself safe from hackers.
Pitchero Helpcentre - SSL certificates - how to set it up on your domain name
Image credit: Sport England
Parental Notifications to Under 16s
As children under the age of 14 are unable to create Pitchero user accounts, it's vital that the parents of your players register with your site to create a Pitchero account.
Once registered, they'll automatically receive any alerts sent to their children - e.g. Team Selection alerts, Payment reminders etc.
But when that child turns 14 they are able to create their own user account (current rules under UK Law), which means they will be able to receive the alerts above plus wider communication from club officials and other club members.
To ensure the safety of all members under 16, all messages (including the alerts mentioned above) sent to registered users between the ages of 14-16 will also be sent to the registered parents of that player.
The message will contain the name of the child that the message was sent to, so if you have more than one child you'll know exactly which child the message was meant for.
Safeguarding - Governing Bodies
So, we've looked at the tools you have available with Pitchero, now it's time to look at what help is available from some of UK Sports Governing Bodies:
Below are links to safeguarding resources for sports in England including training, reporting procedures and useful contacts.
- Safeguarding - NSPCC
- Safeguarding - Sport England
- Safeguarding - Football Association
- Safeguarding - England & Wales Cricket Board
- Safeguarding - England Hockey
- Safeguarding - England Rugby
- Safeguarding - Rugby Football League
- Safeguarding - England Netball
- Safeguarding - Basketball England
- Safeguarding - England Lacrosse
- Safeguarding - AFL England