Albion are accused on child protection
Former coach complains to SFA
Scottish Football Association officials have confirmed they have received letter of complaint about Stirling Albion’s child protection policy.
Both the club’s board and the board of Albion’s Supporters Trust, which owns the club, say they are satisfied with the policy and the way in which it is being implemented.
However, a former junior coach at Forthbank between 2010 and 2015 believes there is a “cause for concern and a need for urgent improvements”.
“I expect that the Trust and SFA will now jointly focus their attention on what needs to be done,” writes the junior coach in his letter to the SFA.
“I have previously suggested to the trust board that Albion may be able to act in some way as a ‘beacon’ project for the SFA’s impending national reforms in this area.”
The letter to the SFA followed the prosecutions last year of two coaches of junior players at Albion.
In June last year, Blair Barlow, from Bannockburn, was placed on the sex offenders’ register after he was found guilty of sending through social media a picture of his private parts to a 15-year-old boy.
Barlow, who was 22 at the time and had coached in Stirling Albion’s Junior Academy, was placed under supervision. The recipients of Barlow’s messages had nothing to do with his coaching work.
And in October, a 22-year-old assistant youth development coach at Albion was cleared , following a fiveday trial, of targeting young players with sexual Snapchat messages.
The junior academy coach, who raised his concerns with the SFA, asked not to be identified by the Observer, although his letter to the football body is signed.
In his letter to the SFA, he also submitted a lengthy statement detailing events which he said occurred following the police investigations into Barlow and the other coach between February and May, 2017.
He claims:
The club did not share information about the police probes until February of last year.
In March, 2018, the previous trust board’s executive committee asked independent investigators with relevant experience of child protection to examine how the allegations had been handled by the club and whether the club had followed its child protection policy in dealing with them.
The excoach with Albion said he
acted in a secretarial role to the inquiry and claims no official at the club with direct responsibilty for child protection would agree to be interviewed on the record by the investigators.
The investigators were, said the ex-coach, unable to establish whether good practice had been followed.
The succeeding trust board had not published the report or even a summary of it.
The ex-coach told the Observer: “I believe I have the best interests of Albion at heart but I think the club needs to wake up because this problem is killing it and in my view leaving children at risk.”
A spokesman for the SFA confirmed correspondence had recently been received from the ex-coach. This will be examined,” added its spokesperson. “We have no further information to disclose at this stage.”
Both club chairman and operations director at the club Stuart Brown and the Trust board were send a copy of the ex-coach’s letter to the SFA and his accompanying statement and asked for comment.
Stuart Brown said: “I can confirm that the club board is fully satisfied that Stirling Albion’s child wellbeing and protection policy is fit for purpose, well communicated and all the appropriate procedures are in place that ensure Stirling Albion is a safe and healthy environment for children of all ages.”
A spokesman for the Stirling Albion Supporters Trust Board said: “We had ongoing discussions with the club’s child wellbeing and protection committee and the club board and are satisfied that the policies, which are published on the club’s website, are fully compliant with SFA guidelines
and competently implemented.”