Youth football clubs suspended over abuse checks

EIGHTEEN Scottish youth football clubs have been suspended over a failure to complete comprehensive background checks on coaches and officials.

The Scottish Youth Football Association (SYFA) confirmed 18 of its 3,500 clubs have been suspended the day after it was revealed 488 individuals have been debarred for not submitting an application to the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme.

It is thought the suspensions will affect about 350 young players, but many can join other teams.

There are 15,000 volunteer coaches and officials who help run the 39 SYFA leagues and coach 60,000 young players.

The SYFA set a deadline of February 28 to clear a backlog of 950 PVG applications and has taken action against those who did not apply.

SYFA chief executive David Little said: ‘We said last year clubs that did not expedite these compulsory checks would lose their member status and those volunteers without a PVG certificate would be placed under a precautionary suspension.

‘It is encouraging the overwhelming majority of clubs take these responsibilities extremely seriously but those that have not complied have now been suspended from all competitions.

‘It is disappointing that we have been forced to suspend these 18 clubs but player safety is our number one priority. We were determined to ensure that a strong signal was sent out across the country that these standards are non-negotiable.’

Mr Little appeared before a Scottish parliament committee on child protection in sport on Tuesday, which was set up following allegations of historical abuse in football.

Police Scotland is investigating and the SFA has set up an independent review.