POLICY

J.LEAGUE Safeguarding policy

Working to ensure a footballing environment where everyone accepts each other,
can feel safe and positively oriented,
and where personal growth and exemplary behaviour on- and off-the-pitch are encouraged.

J.LEAGUE is committed to expanding safeguarding, for the future of all people. Sports make people happy, and we hope that everyone can enjoy the present as they look to the future, while each carefully nurturing their own unique potential. Since the 2020 season J.LEAGUE has been promoting safeguarding, based on our determination to create an environment in which all people are valued, accepted, and acknowledged, and where everyone feels safe to do the things they love.

What is safeguarding?

Children and youth

Safeguarding refers to initiatives to promote the creation of an environment where children and youth can engage in activities with peace of mind and where they are protected from harm.
It means the following things.

• ● Protecting children and youth from abuse and inappropriate treatment
• ● Preventing any harm to physical health and growth
• ● Providing a safe and caring environment that encourages growth
• ● Ensuring actions are taken that prioritise the interests of all children and youth

Vulnerable adults

＊What is safeguarding for adults?

Initiatives to ensure the right for people to lead a safe and secure life, free from abuse or their plight being ignored.

All staff and organisations concerned work together to uphold their duty of care and prevent abuse, ensuring that vulnerable adults can engage in activities in a state of good physical, mental, and social health.

Safeguarding activities during the 2023 season

Safeguarding workshop	As the term suggests, safeguarding activities aim to “guard” people and keep them “safe.” The first J.LEAGUE safeguarding workshop took place in 2020 and the fourth workshop was held in 2023, bringing together a total of 133 online participants, including safeguarding staff from J.Clubs and participants from the Japan Football Association (JFA). In addition to learning the basic concepts that are reiterated and reviewed every year in the workshop, with a view to promoting understanding of harassment, the safeguarding staff of the J.Clubs also participate in workshops and group discussions led by external lecturers. The aim of these activities is to translate best practice examples into specific safeguarding actions at participants’ own clubs. 〇Details Initiatives that seek primarily to protect children and youth from harm and promote the creation of a safe and secure environment in which they can engage in activities. Specifically, each club promotes the protection of children and youth from abuse and inappropriate treatment (protection), the prevention of factors that could hinder their health and growth (prevention), and the provision of the education necessary to ensure that actions can be taken that prioritise all children and youth (education). These protection, prevention and education activities are also targeted at adults, and require greater social and organisational cooperation.
Developing safeguarding educational materials for juniors (elementary school students)	Out of a desire to see the concept of safeguarding permeate more broadly through society, in 2022 J.LEAGUE established a specially dedicated safeguarding website, which introduces concepts and initiatives relating to safeguarding, not only of J.LEAGUE and J.Clubs, but also of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and JFA. The special site features a video aimed at promoting the concept of safeguarding more broadly throughout society.
Safeguarding initiatives by FIFA, AFC and JFA	J.LEAGUE is not alone in its safeguarding initiatives. Football governing bodies like FIFA, AFC and JFA also recognise safeguarding as a top priority. FIFA Guardians™ on safeguarding in football was established in 2019, with the AFC Child Safeguarding Policy being adopted in 2022, and the JFA Safeguarding Policy being compiled in 2021. J.LEAGUE formulated J.LEAGUE Safeguarding Guidelines in 2021 (unpublished as it is still a trial version). In December 2023 the AFC Certificate in Child Safeguarding 2023 was convened by the AFC Academic Centre of Excellence.

During the 2023 season we started developing safeguarding educational materials targeting juniors (elementary school students). After having received feedback from clubs that had trialled the materials, they were finalised in March 2024 and will be released on the special site. The educational materials are intended to provide players and their parents or guardians with contents that serve as a “first step” towards understanding safeguarding. It is hoped that by gaining an awareness of their feelings in football-related situations it will be possible to foster ethical awareness and change attitudes through hands-on understanding of those situations. We hope that what these educational materials achieve will be that safeguarding in actual sporting situations can serve to enhance collective consciousness by building relationships with trusted individuals, helping to create a sporting community where everyone can enjoy themselves and take part safely.

Course materials for U-12