Your Club. Get Involved.

The person anyone can go to — player, parent or volunteer — if they are worried about a child or an adult at risk.

• Be the first point of contact for any welfare or safeguarding concern
• Make sure concerns are recorded and passed to the right people
• Support coaches, parents and players, and keep things confidential
• Help volunteers get the DBS checks and training they need

Training: Enhanced DBS through the RFL, the Safeguarding & Protecting Children course and Time to Listen training. The club helps you get there.

You never investigate a concern yourself. You report it, and the right people take it from there.

Run training and match days, and help players develop — as rugby players and as people.

• Plan and run sessions that are safe, positive and enjoyable
• Put player welfare, development and enjoyment before results
• Take a player off if concussion is suspected — if in doubt, sit them out
• Set the tone for how your team treats referees and opposition

Training: RFL registration and coaching licence, the right coaching qualification, DBS and safeguarding training. Renewed annually, supported by the club.

You are not expected to run the team’s admin as well, or to know every rule on day one. Coaches coach.

The organiser. Keeps players, parents, opposition and officials all pointing the same way.

• Be the main point of contact for parents day to day
• Keep the team’s fixtures, training and attendance up to date on Thrive4
• Sort fixtures, referees, team sheets and match-day paperwork
• Make sure new players get their kit

Training: DBS where required. No rugby background needed — this role is organisation, not tactics.

You do not pick the team, decide positions or run sessions. That is the coach’s job.

You are who players come to when someone gets hurt — and the one who decides when a player stops playing.

• Treat injuries at training and on match days, within your qualification
• Spot suspected concussion and take the player off — if in doubt, sit them out
• Call for help when it is serious, and record what happened
• Stay for 15 minutes after the final whistle

Training: HSE Three Day First Aid at Work or equivalent, the RFL Concussion course and an enhanced RFL DBS.

Nobody — coach, parent or player — overrules your decision to keep someone off the pitch.

Keeps match day welcoming — for players, parents, referees and visiting teams.

• Set the tone on the touchline and keep it positive
• Support the RFL’s Enjoy the Game standards
• Be a visible point of contact on match day

Training: DBS where required, plus club guidance on match-day expectations.

You are not refereeing and you are not coaching. You are looking after the atmosphere.