What is bullying?
Bullying is when someone is intentionally hurting you or making you feel upset, and this can happen in person or online (cyberbullying). It is important to understand that bullying can take many forms and can happen at home, in school, at football or online.
different Types of Bullying
Physical Bullying
Hitting, kicking, slapping, punching, spitting, tipping, pushing, stealing or destroying possessions
Verbal Bullying
Name calling, insults, teasing, intimidation, homophobic or racist remarks, innapropriate sexual comments, taunting, threatening to cause harm
Social Bulling
Lying or spreading rumours, leaving someone out on purpose, telling others not to be friends with someone, embarrassing someone in public.
Cyberbylling
Posting/sending hurtful texts, emails or posts, images or videos, making online threats, deliberately excludingg others online, spreading nasty rumours.
THESE BEHAVIOURS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE
Bullying at football
Everyone invovled in football has the right to a positive and enjoyable experience. To ensure this is the case, The FAW and your football club do not accept any form of bullying. It is important that:
- Everyone involved in the club are treated with respect
- There is no bullying behaviour within the club
- All players should feel welcomed at the club
- All players should feel a part of the team
- Your club should investigate any concerns of bullying and take bullying seriously.
- If you are being bullied, your club should listen to you and support you.
- Your club should provide a safe space for players to come forward if they are being bullied
- Your club should work with players who do bully to help change the negative behaviour
- Your club should ensure all coaches are given appropriate training and guidance on bullying
- Your club should encourage you to not engage in bullying behaviour
what should you do IF YOU ARE BEING BULLIED?
If you feel that you are being bullied at your club by your coaches or teammates or even by someone outside of football such as in school or at home, it’s important that you speak to someone you trust, such as:
- Your parents
- Another family member
- Your coaches
- Your teacher
At football, your club will have a club Safeguarding Officer in place who is there to listen to you and support you so you can always talk to them. If you do not know who your club Safeguarding Officer is, please ask your coach who they are or contact a member of the FAW Safeguarding Team on 02920 435 830 or via email- safeguarding@faw.cymru
If you do not feel comfortable to talk to someone you know, you can visit Childline and they will be able to give you support and provide you with guidance, such as:
- What is bullying
- Dealing with bullying
- Can you talk to the police?
- Taking care of your mental health
- Supporting someone who is being bullied
- To access this information, please click on the following link: Chidline- Bullying
Its important that you talk to someone and you do not allow the bullying to carry on.
what if you have been bullying someone?
It is never okay for you to bully somone, whether this be at football, at home or in school and you should certainly look to improve your behaviour.
Firstly, well done for understanding that your behaviour is bullying and is unacceptable. The next thing to do is to take important steps to change the negative behaviour. You can talk to a person you trust or your club Safeguarding Officer if you would like guidance and support to do this.
Childline have also provided the following steps that you can take:
- Recognise that your behaviour is bulling
- Stop whatever you was doing to bully someone, such as delete any negative posts or stop calling an individual names etc.
- Dont stay in group chats or pages that are being used to bully someone
- Say sorry to the person you have been bullying
- Encourage others to stop bullying
- Think about how you want to behave moving forwards
At football, you should look to adhere to your player code of conduct to ensure bullying does not occur. Your code of conduct states the following:
- Treat all fellow players equally
- Be friendly and welcoming to new players
- Do not bully or make anyone feel unhappy or sad
- Encourage, support and co-operate with your teammates
- Do not discriminate
- Do not take part in rough or dangerous play, bullying or the use of bad language or inappropriate behaviour
- Respect and listen to the opinions of fellow players.
To see your full code of conduct, please go to your code of conduct section.