Children’s officers to be mandatory in clubs

GAA chiefs are to issue a directive that every club and county board in the country must appoint a children’s officer in the coming year.

The GAA held an information day on child protection and welfare at the end of January, where representatives from each county were informed of the new proposals and a document detailing the code of best practice and behaviour to be adopted at underage level is currently being circulated to all clubs.

It is envisaged that the children’s officer will have responsibility for ensuring the proper structures are in place for children in every GAA club.

GAA national children’s officer Gearóid O Maoilmhicil is targeting a mid-summer date for the appointment of the children’s officer positions in clubs.

“We have brought into the association a code of best practice and behaviour in youth sport. This is tied in with the (recently-launched) Respect initiative.

“Some of the measures include that coaches must be sufficiently skilled and properly attired. Conduct is also very important and we don’t tolerate roaring from the sideline. That day’s gone. As well the coach should not smoke in front of players and if you’ve been drinking the night before, don’t go training.

“If we are to promote this, you need someone at club level to develop this. That’s where the role of children’s officer comes in. We’ve had the national day, then we’ll do provincial training followed by county training. By this summer, everyone shall have been engaged with and people shall be appointed.”

In addition, the children’s officer will be tasked with promoting the Garda Vetting service of underage coaches which was instigated for the first time by the GAA last year.

The Garda Central Vetting Unit processed 16,153 applications by 26 national sporting bodies last year, with the GAA responsible for over 50% – 8,899 – of those applications.

That figure was in marked contrast to other Irish sports organisations, with the IRFU the most notable absentee from the top ten having only made 122 applications last year.

Vetting is not yet a legal requirement in underage sport, but the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform are currently drafting the National Vetting Bureau Bill which would make it mandatory.

“Children’s officers will also promote the vetting service,” says O’Maoilmhicil. “Vetting carried out by the GAA via Croke Park is free to our members and while it’s not a legal requirement, it is good practice.

“We will reach a point in the association within the next year I hope, that anyone who has failed to furnish their GAA club with the vetting acceptance letter cannot be permitted to continue in that function.”

O Maoilmhicil also urged coaches not to communicate directly with underage players when notifying them of training sessions and matches.

“Our advice is that you text underage people in a group scenario only and that you seek the number of a parent or guardian at the registration of the player.

“If there are exceptional circumstances where a text needs to come to the child, the parent or guardian should explicitly give that directive to the club. Otherwise you should not have a situation where an adult coach is texting an underage individual. It is inappropriate and might leave one open to allegations of misuse of your phone. You can’t afford that.”