Websites
Websites are a key part of the daily operation of most clubs.
However, in the same way that a club has responsibility for the physical safety of a junior member when visiting the club’s premises, that club must also ensure that there is nothing on its website which could harm a child, directly or indirectly. A club is responsible for the content of its website and should have moderators checking content.
There are 2 key risks to guard against, and which are constant themes in the more detailed provisions in this guidance:
1. Disclosing personal information about a child to people accessing the website. This could be the child’s name, address, or any information about a child’s life, interests or activities which would help a stranger target a child, or engage that child in conversation.
2. Abusive or inappropriate content (photos, video or text), on the site itself or on linked sites.
Bullying – criticising child or humiliating them.
Blogs and Twitter
Becoming common place and easy to access.
1. A central part of the attraction is that it is updated frequently. However the same risks apply to its content. A club cannot distance itself from the content if it chooses to include it on its site.
2. They often contain a lot of opinion, as opposed to purely factual information.
Content must be checked that is it appropriate to be seen by children
The responsibility for checking content needs to be allocated clearly to individual(s)
Where members of the public can email comments which would then appear on the website (often called a message board, or chatroom, or discussion forum) the content of these emails should be checked before appearing on the website. Publication should not be automatic.
If a club receives any complaints about content, it should remove the content in question immediately, and reinstate it only once the complaint has been resolved. A club needs to be able to react quickly in the event of any complaint.
Personal information about children over and above the child’s name should not feature on the website.
Links to another website should not be placed on a club’s website unless that club has checked the site’s content
The content of linked sites should be checked thoroughly at least once every 6 months.
If a club learns of any concerns over the content of the linked site, it should investigate immediately.
Photos and video
Photos and video clips can make any child featured vulnerable to grooming if information about the child (name, address, activities or interests) is also disclosed. Furthermore, posting an image on the website carries a risk that the image could be taken and adapted for an inappropriate use.
Recommendations:
Use group images, rather than individual images. Do not use child’s name
notification and a consent request should be included in the information given to junior members and their parents upon joining the club.
If consent was given initially, but is subsequently withdrawn by parent or child, the image should be removed from the site.
Webcams and live image streams (Youtube)
It can be a very effective way to portray a club’s activities and atmosphere.
However control is difficult. Any live image stream, by its nature, cannot be checked before transmission.
A club needs to give careful thought to why it wants its website to stream images, what images it intends to capture, and how they will be presented.
Any transmitted image stream should be pictures only, without sound.
As far as possible, the images should be of groups of people, not individuals.
A club should try to notify all visitors (both adults and children) whose image may be caught that a webcam is in operation. Usually this is through the use of prominent notices placed around all entrances to the area covered by the camera.
Mobile and Social networking ( 2/3rds of 15 year olds use these sites!!)
The risks posed by such methods of communication arise from:
The privacy.
The wide range of content that can be transmitted, including content of a violent, sexual or hateful nature.
The ease with which images can be forwarded onto others.
The difficulty in knowing truly who you are communicating with. Where grooming happens, it often involves this type of communication. Paedophiles will pretend to be the same age with the same interests.
In rugby, there are additional risks:
Inappropriate pressure can be exerted by adults, particularly coaches, on children (such as to play when injured).
There can be degrading criticism of a child’s performance.
An official position or role within a club, such as Coach, can carry with it a level of authority, and engender a level of trust, that facilitates the control of a child.
Against this background, a club needs to establish rules covering how adults connected with that club communicate with children connected with that club.
Recommendations:
RFU advice is that Club Officials and Coaches should not communicate with individual children by text or on-line at any time, on any matter, unless there is an immediate risk to the welfare of that child which can be lessened by such contact.
When communication by phone is needed, where possible Club Officials and Coaches should speak to the parent of a child.
Club Officials and Coaches can speak to individual children on mobile phones provided they have prior consent from the child’s parents, and from the child if old enough to understand.
If a club needs to communicate club-related information to children by say Facebook or other social media then the following should be considered:
Based on this guidance, a club needs to devise written policies which cover its own particular circumstances, and meet its particular needs, and then to ensure the policies are followed fully.
Policies need to be widely publicised. They should be on a club’s website, and on display at the club (such as on noticeboard). They should also be emailed or posted to the parents of each child at the club.
A club needs clear written procedures that set out how its policies are to be implemented. A club needs to make it easy for children, their parents or any interested individual to raise a child protection concern.
No child under 13 should hold a Facebook account
Customise privacy levels so that while general photos and posts are available to everyone personal details, tagged photos, birthdays, phone numbers, etc are for Friends only.
Any breach of the above could be considered as bringing the game into disrepute under section 5.12 of the RFU regulations. Sanctions could then be applied to the whole Club regardless of the age or position of the offender.