Sport England launches £15m safeguarding network for children

Sport England is to invest £15m in a “gamechanging” network of 59 professional safeguarding officers to protect children and young people across sport, the Guardian can reveal.

The news, which will be officially announced on Wednesday, follows horrific stories of abuse in gymnastics and multiple other sports, as well as widespread concerns that complaints were not adequately reported or addressed.

The damning Whyte Review last year proved to be the final straw, with Anne Whyte KC finding that girls as young as seven had been sat on by coaches to “overstretch” their bodies, strapped to bars for long periods as punishment, and shouted and sworn at for needing the toilet.

Source – Sport England launches £15m safeguarding network for children | Sport England | The Guardian