Principle of Safeguarding
Participating in sports, including rugby, can be a positive and fun experience for children and young people. Scottish Rugby and regional rugby referee societies are committed to ensuring that all children and young people feel safe and are protected from harm. Rugby referee societies and match officials follow the advice and guidance set out by Scottish Rugby Union: https://www.scottishrugby.org/safeguarding/
Protecting Vulnerable Groups Checks
The Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme managed by Disclosure Scotland helps to ensure people who are unsuitable to work with children and protected and vulnerable adults cannot do certain types of work or activities. All our Society coaches of match officials who are under the age of 18 are registered with the PVG scheme.
SCRUMS
All match officials, including match official coaches, are registered on the Scottish Rugby Union’s database – SCRUMS.
Raising a Concern
Concerns regarding a child can be raised in many different situations and it is essential that all staff and volunteers know that they must respond and report to any information that is disclosed to them – we commit to ensuring our members and Committee follow the due process set out by Scottish Rugby, including passing concerns to the relevant authorities.
If you wish to report a concern or allegation or suspicion, you should follow this process: Report a Concern – Scottish Rugby or immediately contact the President or CPO.
If you are concerned about the immediate safety of the child:
- Take whatever action is required to ensure the child’s immediate safety.
- Pass the information immediately to Police Scotland and seek their advice – either by calling 101 or 999
The following documents detail our policies and commitment to safeguarding.
BRRS Child Protection Policy:
BRRS Safeguarding Guide for Match Officials of Age-Grade Games and Coaches of Under-18 Match Officials: