"I know people think i'm a complete pain in the neck": An examination of the introduction of child protection and "safeguarding" in english sport from the perspective of national governing body safeguarding lead officers

Abstract

Child protection in sport emerged at the start of the 21st century amidst headlinesabout coaches raping, sexually assaulting and abusing children. Against this backdrop, in2001 the UK government established an independent agency, the English Child Protectionin Sport Unit (CPSU), which introduced national child protection standards for sportsorganizations. This included the requirement to appoint national "safeguarding leadofficers". Utilizing the theoretical framework of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this paperconsiders the impact of "safeguarding and child protection" (SCP) within the English sportscommunity through the experiences of those who have been at the vanguard of itsimplementation in the early years of its establishment within sport. Utilizing data fromqualitative interviews with nine national safeguarding lead officers (SLOs), the paperdiscusses the challenges experienced by SLOs and critically appraises the relation betweenthem (their habitus) and the prevailing logic (capital) within their sporting fields. We discussthe extent to which SLOs have been supported by their organizations and conclude with aconsideration of the degree to which national governing bodies of sport (NGBs) have beeninvested in SCP.