Sports and leisure facilities are the targets of our latest campaign aimed at protecting children from abuse and exploitation. 

Our Say Something If You See Something campaign is encouraging people to speak up with any concerns they may have – however small – about anyone working with children and young people in sports clubs or leisure centres. 

It is also calling on those providers to make sure safeguarding is high on their agenda and that every member of staff has received up-to-date training. 

The campaign, which is being launched to coincide with Child Exploitation (CE) Awareness Day this Friday (March 18), aims to get parents, communities – and clubs themselves – to talk more openly about safeguarding.  

Kevin Murphy, NWG Network’s Safeguarding in Sport lead, said: “Abuse and exploitation are areas that people can often feel uncomfortable talking about and they may find it difficult to raise minor concerns for fear of being viewed as a trouble-maker or falsely accusing somebody.  

“But what this campaign is all about is ensuring those low-level concerns are aired before problems escalate. A quiet word with those in charge at the club now could stop a potential abuser in their tracks. Or, if you feel you can’t approach the club, call police on 101 to report non-urgent concerns.” 

Mr Murphy acknowledges that many sports clubs and leisure operators are doing excellent work to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse, but says there is still a huge amount to be done and that abusers do target sports clubs and leisure centres. 

This may be sexual abuse but may also involve children and young people being recruited into gangs or groomed into taking part in illegal activity like drug trafficking. 

NWG Network works directly with local authorities and sports providers across the country to raise awareness through dedicated training sessions. 

Places Leisure, which runs just under 100 leisure centres across the UK, is one of them. So far, over 60 of its staff have received the training. 

Andy Read, Head of Safety at Places Leisure, said: “We have over 20 million visits to our sites each year and obviously a lot of those are children and young people, so it is absolutely vital that our staff know what their responsibilities are.  

“The Say Something if you See Something campaign reinforces our message to them, which has always been ‘if you’re concerned about something, escalate it’. 

“We know from past experiences, where we have stopped potential crimes, just how vital this is.” 

He added: “What NWG’s training has done for us is really bring home the realities of what could be going on. It’s not so much about what the law says and what the consequences could be, like a lot of the other safeguarding training, but about ‘this is what it looks like, this is the real situation’.” 

Mr Murphy said: “Many children do not recognise that what’s happening to them is abuse or, if they do, they are too terrified to say anything due to the power of their abuser, so the onus really is on all of us to look out for them, do our bit and report absolutely anything that causes alarm bells to ring. 

“There should be a constant dialogue between clubs and parents/carers around safeguarding, which makes it much easier to approach them if there are concerns.” 

In recent years abuse in sport has hit the headlines in sports such as football, gymnastics, swimming, badminton, martial arts and indoor climbing.  

National figures from Operation Hydrant, which was set up in June 2014 by the National Police Chief’s Council to coordinate responses to historic child sex abuse, show allegations have been made against 490 different sports clubs nationwide. 

NWG Network’s Say Something if you See Something campaign is part of its ongoing mission to help raise awareness of how children can become victims of child exploitation, and prevent abuse from occurring in the first place. 

 It is being launched to coincide with Child Exploitation Awareness Day on Friday, March 18^th, a national initiative headed up by the charity which aims to encourage everyone to think, spot and speak out against abuse and exploitation. 

You can get involved online using #CEADay22

To access our CE in Sport resources click here. 

If you have concerns about inappropriate behaviour by anyone involved in a sports club you can contact us for advice on 01332 585 371 or your local police force on 101.