Dealing with issues and complaints

Caversham AFC (CAFC) is a friendly, 'open to all' club providing fun, engaging and safe football for everybody. As such, we expect that all club members shall make every effort to be inclusive and to encourage other members of all abilities. In line with this ethos, the club wishes to run its disciplinary procedure on an informal basis for the most part but accepts that from time to time a formal complaint may be necessary.

Safeguarding

If the matter is a safeguarding issue or a criminal matter, this MUST be reported to the club Welfare officer, or in his/her absence, the Committee Chair at the earliest opportunity. Please email welfare@cavershamafc.co.uk

Informal

1. Informal resolution - face to face

The majority of complaints can be handled informally. It is most often the case that the person who has caused offence has no idea that their actions or words have caused harm in any way. Therefore, the first port of call for any complaint is for the aggrieved party to speak informally to the person who has caused offence in order to make them aware of the situation. In the majority of cases, the offending party will be apologetic and not have realised that their actions were harmful in any way.
There should be no further action here.

2. Informal resolution – Age Group Leader

In a small number of cases, it may be that the person who is aggrieved either does not know the offending person, does not feel confident in approaching them or feels it requires the input from another club member. In these cases, it is appropriate to approach the Age Group Leader and raise a concern.
It is then for the group leader to resolve the matter in a way that they see fit. This might include a whole group message to remind everyone of the club ethos or they may
speak to the individual in person or they may choose to raise it with a committee member for further discussion/investigation.

3. Informal resolution - Committee member

If the matter is outside of the above two instances, it may be appropriate for a club member to approach a committee member with the problem. The Committee member shall determine at this stage whether the person wants it to be handled formally or informally. If formally, refer to the procedure below. If informal, the club member accepts that the Committee Member shall deal with the matter in the way that they best see fit depending on the nature of the incident. Words of advice to the offending party and potentially the aggrieved party shall resolve this issue.

Formal Process

If any grievance or complaint cannot be solved by any of the informal ways as described above, anyone wishing to make a complaint should follow our formal complaints and grievance process, as set out in our policy here.