Sign the Coaches & Officials Code of Conduct on Adobe
Every coach must complete and sign the Code of Conduct online using our Adobe form. You will need your PVG Scheme membership number.
- Click the blue button – the Adobe form opens in a new tab
- Fill in your details, tick each section and sign on screen
- Click Submit – you will receive a signed copy by email
Then come back to this page for Step 2.
- Open each policy and scroll all the way to the end.
- Enter your name and age group, then click I have read this document.
- Do this for all four. Use your full name the same way each time.
All Academy players are amateurs. Every player is free to leave the club at any time, for any reason, and to join any other club; nothing in this procedure restricts that right in any way. This procedure applies only to departures initiated by the club (de-registration).
- A decision to de-register a player will be the responsibility of the head coach of that team.
- Before any action is taken on Comet or any other registration system, the player's parents/carers (or the player, if aged 18 or over) must be informed of the decision personally – in person or by telephone – by the Coach.
- The decision and reasons will then be confirmed in writing to the family within 5 working days, including how to raise any concerns with the club's CWPOs and, if they remain dissatisfied, with Scottish Women's Football.
- Only once steps 2 and 3 are complete may the de-registration be processed on Comet, unless otherwise agreed by the parent/player.
- A record of the decision, the communication and the written confirmation will be retained by the head coach.
Queries about this document should be directed to the Club Secretary or a Club Wellbeing and Protection Officer (CWPO).
Purpose: to ensure that players who are unable to train or play through injury remain connected to their team and the club throughout their recovery.
- When the club is notified of an injury expected to keep a player out for more than two weeks, the team's coach will confirm a named contact for that player (the coach or a CWPO).
- The player remains in all team communications for the duration of the injury. For players under 18, communication is via parents/carers in line with club communication rules.
- The player will continue to be invited to training sessions, match days and team social events in a non-playing capacity, where appropriate to the injury and with parental agreement.
- The named contact will check in with the player (via parents/carers for under-18s) at least fortnightly.
- Return to play is guided by medical advice. A graduated return plan will be agreed between the coach, the player and their parents/carers before the first match back. Coaches must not pressure a player to return ahead of medical guidance, and any disagreement about readiness is referred to the CWPO.
- On return, the coach and player will agree realistic expectations about match sharpness and game time, and these will be communicated to parents/carers so everyone shares the same understanding.
Queries about this document should be directed to the Club Secretary or a Club Wellbeing and Protection Officer (CWPO).
Purpose: to govern the use of video/audio match analysis systems (e.g. VEO, XBot) involving players under 18, in line with the SWF CWPP (Photography and Filming) and UK data protection law.
- Filming of matches and training is carried out solely for performance analysis and coaching purposes.
- Equipment used: Veo 3 Camera. Owner: the club. Where equipment is personally owned, all footage must nonetheless be stored on a club-controlled account to which the CWPOs have access; personal storage of footage of players is not permitted.
- Written consent for filming is obtained from all players and parents/carers at annual registration. Opposition clubs are notified in line with league protocol before filming any fixture.
- Audio is not recorded or retained unless the analysis system captures it by default, in which case it is treated with the same controls as video and is not shared.
- Access to footage is restricted to the team's coaching staff and CWPOs. Footage must not be posted to social media, shared in group chats, or shared privately with individual players or families except through the CWPO.
- Requests from players or parents/carers to view footage are made to the CWPO, who will facilitate viewing where appropriate.
- Footage is deleted no later than 5 years after recording unless it is required for a live coaching, disciplinary or wellbeing purpose, in which case the reason for retention is recorded by the CWPO.
- Any breach of this policy is dealt with under the coaches' code of conduct.
Queries about this document should be directed to the Club Secretary or a Club Wellbeing and Protection Officer (CWPO).
Purpose: to protect players from actual or perceived favouritism, and to protect coaches from unfounded accusations of it, where a coach's own child plays in a squad they coach, or where a team is sponsored by a player's parent or relative.
- Coaches declare annually (at registration) any squad in which their own child, or the child of a close relative, plays. The Club Secretary keeps a register of these declarations.
- Where a coach's child plays in their squad, a second coach must be involved in selection and substitution decisions that directly concern the coach's own child or a player competing for the same position.
- Proposals to create a new team or age-group squad must be made in writing to the Committee with a football rationale, and approved by the Committee before the team is formed or entered into any league.
- Sponsorship of a team by a parent or relative of a player must have no bearing on selection.
- Any player or parent/carer who believes favouritism is affecting selection may raise it with a CWPO, who will look into it and respond. Raising such a concern will never be held against a player.
Queries about this document should be directed to the Club Secretary or a Club Wellbeing and Protection Officer (CWPO).