Young man wanting to film at sporting event

[MelbourneWay]

Name changed for this.

I am a volunteer organiser of sporting events for young adults, age range 12-30. I get a licence from the governing body of the sport to put these events on so that I am covered by their insurance, and I pay locally for hire of facilities etc., however, the events do take place in public places on sports fields etc.

For child protection reasons we have a policy of "no filming or photography". The parents of the young adults taking part in our event need to know that we have appropriate precautions in place, and indeed we have our own photographer who supplies free photographs for parents.

However, there is a local man in his 20s who is a massive fan of the sport and he has his own Instagram channel of film clips etc. I suppose he would be called an “influencer”. Yesterday, he announced to his followers that he is covering our next event on his channel.

We reached out to him saying that we did not need him at our event as we already had a photographer, but he said he was going to be there anyway.
We said he was welcome to attend in a personal capacity but asked him not to film or put any film clips on his channel.

He has not responded but has since posted again about his intentions for his channel to be at our next event. Assuming he turns up on the day, what do I as the meeting organiser do? Or am I overthinking things?

Yanbu. Could this be a safeguarding issue?

The event is in a public place. As far as I know you don't have any power to stop anyone filming or photographing in a public place, and in such a scenario consent of the subjects being photographed / filmed is not needed.

If you reached out individually to him it might now be worth posting on his feed and making it clear to all his followers that he is not welcome to film it then if he does it reflects badly on him.

@Poppyblush Yes indeed. Our club policy is that if someone wishes to take photographs at events where there are under 18s present then they need to go through a formal accreditation and risk assessment process.

If OP is hiring somewhere for the use of their facilities then it is NOT a public place. A public place would be local kids having a kickabout in a local park during normal public opening hours. Just because somewhere is free admission or even council owned does not make it "public". A sports ground is a private venue.

The OP, as organiser of the event has the right to set rules regarding attendance of the event and not filming can be one of those conditions. You are totally within your rights to ask him to leave (and to call teh police if he refuses to do so though whether they attend or not would depend on your area. Do you have stewards?

@Comefromaway We have never needed stewards in the past. It is certainly something I am considering. But what powers would they actually have to stop him filming?

"The events do take place in public places" says OP. I am picturing a sports field in a local park which the OP cannot control access to. If OP can control access then great. If not, and people can view the action from a public area, not much OP can do legally.

You are hiring facilities to put on an event. You have the powers to set any rules you like (so long as they are not discriminatory) at that event. If someone refuses to comply you have the right to make them leave. Where you might have difficulty is if there is a public place still within sight of the event where they could still stand and film.

You could ask him nicely to not film, ask him to leave, failing that have someone stand in front of him the whole time blocking his view. And film the whole lot and put it on his channel so all his followers can see what an arse he is

I would put a message on his feed to explain why you don't allow filming and ask publicly that he does not film.

I would also alert those attending, so that anyone with particular privacy concerns is aware in advance.

Without knowing the location, or particular security concerns, it's hard to know what else you can do. If it's hired then you can put up or request barriers to visibility (e.g. crowd barrier with lining) and prevent filming by having stewards who bar him access, but I'm guessing that will add hugely to your costs?

I often officiate at athletics events (held on a track, so not in a public place like a park). The rules are clear - no photography and no filming.

But: everyone has mobile phones and everyone does it. Their favourite trick is to stand on the finish line blocking the view of the timekeepers and then get annoyed when you tell them to move and they're not meant to be filming anyway.

However, in this instance he intends to put the footage on his channel without permission, and I think you can make it very clear that you are not giving him permission to do so, that he does not have permission from parents and guardians to publish footage of minors, and that if he does it regardless you will report him to the platform and get them to remove the footage/his account (they should do it if there are safeguarding concerns).

Thanks everyone. I don't have any specific concerns about this individual but the event has many U18s taking part and we have not verified his credentials. I have no wish to get into a social media war with him but I do like the idea of alerting parents before the event.

I’ve never really understood why filming/photography at sporting events where participants are fully clothed and anonymous is such a no-no?

Many children aren't able to be filmed or photographed

Escaped from a DV situation

Adoption

It doesn't mean the OP can do anything about it though

If the events are held in public places there is nothing you can do to stop him filming

What you can do is notify parents so they can decide for themselves if they want to risk it

Some children are fostered / adopted and due to difficult situations with their birth parents, their location needs to be kept secret.

Families that have escaped abuse.

Families in police protection programmes.

Families who just don’t want their child’s images on the internet in an uncontrolled fashion.

Are you renting a pitch/grounds?

I think you need to get some proper legal advice and use that legal advice to write a carefully worded statement to him and what will happen if he continues. And be prepared to follow through.

Because paedophiles don't just collect images of unclothed children. Many "innocent" images taken by parents of their children could be used as evidence if they ended up in the wrong hands.

For the OP, it depends what sort of facility you are hiring. If you are hiring a football pitch in the park then you have no right to stop the guy filming, it's a public place and there is no right not to be recorded in a public place. If you're hiring a sports hall it will depend on the terms and conditions of your agreement to hire it - does your contract give you exclusive use of the facility and the right to set conditions on who can enter? If so, you're fine. If you're just hiring part of a facility that is otherwise open to the public, e.g. an indoor tennis court in a big hall with several others, you can't control it.

Basically, if you want to control who has access to your event and whether they are allowed to film, you need to find a venue that will not be able to be overlooked by the public and which allows you to control who can enter it. This will of course be more expensive, but then that's the price you pay - you have to weigh up privacy versus cost.

What are the terms and conditions re filming and access of the body you rent the facilities from?

And what good would that do?

They're playing in public, there is no legal basis to ask him to not film

The OP would just be wasting money to be told that

I second watcherintherye; slightly different circumstances, but I volunteer help with a local music festival. There have been specific instances where a child who was part of a choir was discreetly taken aside when "winners' photograph" was taken; her guardians wanted her to have as normal a school experience as possible, without her new identity or location being revealed to an abuser, and if a child is in a distinctive uniform, tracking down becomes easier.

Me either. All very precious on a public place. Accreditation to take pics at an under 15s 5 a side match. Ok then. 🙄

In a previous life, when doing any filming/photos consent had to be obtained from every single person caught on camera if it was for public distribution.

The only exceptions were in public areas. However, although sporting fields and pitches maybe in the public area they are deemed private property because they are hired.

Agree with a pp about getting some legal advice who can contact them. Possibly start with the companies hr department who should be knowledgeable with regards to safe guarding around media.

Although you have someone taking pictures and giving them out freely do you get written consent from parents? I was always “that” parent who refused because of legal issues around a child of mine.

I work with children and have several who absolutely cannot be photographed for safety reasons (domestic abuse and removal from birth parents amongst others).

If an event is taking place in what would he considered a public place, I would issue a communication all parents advising that if they don’t wish their children to be photographed then unfortunately the only option is that they don’t attend.

If an event is taking place in a private hire space (stadium or similar), we ask people not to take photos and enforce it with stewards. We have our own photographer who knows which children can’t be photographed and will make those photos available.

If you have never read the files of children who need this kind of protection it probably sounds like overkill but it really isn’t.