A North Yorkshire junior football club is not letting players use its showers because of child protection concerns. Ripon City Panthers said it did not want to run the risk of photographs of children being taken which could end up on the internet. (BBC News Report)
No particular problem with the headline which talks about ‘child protection concerns’ however, when you actually read the article Pete Coleman, the club’s voluntary recruitment officer, said: “It is a shame in one respect, but it is health and safety, child protection. You have got to be on the ball all the time.” This is where I take issue with the report…
The story has nothing to do with ‘Health & Safety’ issues (unless you consider the mucky little cherubs going home filthy after the match) but it has everything to do with ‘child protection. Once again the media report on something in such a way that the public get a misconception about Health & Safety.
That said, the story is probably more to do with protecting club officials from any potential sex offender investigation, after one of the kids has snapped his mate with a mobile phone and posted it on YouTube or Facebook!
Dave's Bankside Babble 