Charlton Athletic Football Club
Job Description
About Us
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London. The club was founded on June 9th, 1905 and has a very storied history from rising to the top-flight of English Football in the 1930s (First Division) and again in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, to winning the FA Cup in 1947 and to leaving their Valley home in the mid-1980s only to make an impassioned return in 1992. Historically, the women’s team played under Charlton Athletic from 2000 to 2007 but were released to become an independently run team in 2007 following the men’s team’s relegation from the Premier League.
The women’s team were originally formed as a non-professional team in 1991 and were highly successful in the early 2000s winning The FA Cup, the League Cup, and the Charity Shield, as well as coming runners-up in the top division in multiple seasons. In February 2021, the club acquired the Charlton Athletic Women’s team, turning the team full-time professional, and integrating them to become one club again.
Currently, our men’s first team competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football, and our women’s team competes in Women’s Super League 2, the second highest division of women’s football in England. At Charlton, we are ‘one club’ and can be truly described as a ‘family club’.
Job purpose
- To support the performance ambitions of the programme by leading and delivering best practice physiotherapy and professional care to players
- To lead a best practice approach to mitigating injury risk
- To ensure that optimal return to play strategies and delivery is in place to minimise time away from training and playing
- Line manage FT and PT therapists, students and interns and support with all aspects of medical provision within the Academy age groups
- To play a role in developing and sustaining a culture of high performance, safer working, and respectful behaviour
Key Responsibilities
Delivery
- Ensure players benefit from a high quality physiotherapy service which minimises injury incidence
- Develop and lead the teams return to play strategies in collaboration with the Club Doctor and SS team
- Ensure effective systems and processes are in place to aid the co-ordination of the multi-disciplinary team
- Ensure there is an evidence-based approach, that is appropriately data informed
- Identify trends in injury patterns, informing future practice
Relationships and Team working
- Maintain strong relationships between coaching staff and physiotherapy, and between physiotherapy and other performance support functions (e.g., S&C), and wider teams (e.g., safeguarding)
- Ensure a holistic approach to the treatment and prevention and treatment of injury exists at the club
Physiotherapy provision
- Consult with players to gather information about health and injury
- Work with players in the assessment, diagnosis, and rehabilitation of all injuries
- Discuss all potential referrals for radiology/specialist opinion with the Head of Medical
- Devise and deliver individualised rehabilitation/ treatment plans
- Provide pitch side first aid and support
- Use developed clinical reasoning skills to review and evaluate patient progress and current condition
- In conjunction with the team Doctor and Head of Performance lead on the assessment of new player signings
- Liaise with Head of Performance to agree and report player readiness for training and matches
- Deliver physical screening / movement screening throughout the season working with the performance department and team doctor
- Provide staff with formal performance reviews (appraisals) and hold regular informal 1-1s
- Encourage the medical team to network, attend conferences and develop their craft and understanding of best practice
- To ensure the squad are supported by medical staff by arranging appropriate medical cover at all times throughout the season and off-season
- To hold a weekly medical meeting with the PGA physiotherapist, focusing on reviewing SOAP notes, injury prognosis, treatment & rehabilitation. These meetings can be held in-person or online and should be documented and minuted.
- To offer a second opinion on complex cases and if needed, collaborate with the Men’s Head of Medical on best management plans.
- In delivering the above, ensure the latest clinical, scientific, and technical innovations for practice are incorporated into maintaining the highest level of care
Data and evaluation
- Collect and analyse data including injury and illness incidence & rate. Analyse and use insight to refine practice (e.g., injury prevention strategy)
- Ensure medical records are up to date accurate and confidential; and meet the requirements of the football authorities (e.g., The FA & Pro League) and other regulations (e.g., GDPR, UKAD), and comply with the Health and Care Profession Council standards of documentation
- Engage in the Professional League Injury and Illness surveillance project
- Monitor practices and ensure they meet the criteria & standards set by the Care Quality Commission
- Provide periodic (e.g., daily, weekly) injury reports to stakeholders (Head of Women’s Football, Head Coach / Manager, Head of Performance Support, Head of Medical)
- Attend weekly injury update meetings/discussions with the Head of Medical
Multi-disciplinary working
- Contribute to strategies for prevention and reduction of injury
- Manage the Women’s first team medical staff (Sports Therapist, Student, paramedics) to always ensure adequate provision and organisation
- Ensure all players attending external consultations are supported by a member of the medical team
- Work with complementary functions (e.g., S&C, safeguarding, performance wellbeing) to ensure a player-centric culture is in existence
- Provide physiotherapy input to case management meetings, to optimise player performance and minimise time lost due to injury
- Assist the Head of Medical in the recruitment process of any medical members of staff.
- Budget management
- Monitor and discuss season by season budget with the Head of Medical
- To assist with medical equipment stock orders
Self-development
- Attend CPD events and undertake CPD activities in line with identified development themes
- Conduct and oversee research projects to underpin practice and service development
- To attend, participate and contribute towards the regular in-service programme within the medical department.
- To keep up to date with relevant first aid qualifications (ATMMiF);
Education/Qualifications/Training
For a Physiotherapist
- Registered member of the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC).
- Chartered Physiotherapist (CSP)
- Have appropriate medical indemnity to treat/advise BWSL and BWC players
- Full, up to date Advanced Emergency Aid qualification; this should be the Level 5 ATMMIF
- Attend a yearly ATMMiF reaccreditation
- UKAD Clean Sport Advisor
- Safeguarding and Protecting Children / FA Safeguarding Children (acquired before starting role)
- DBS Clearance / Enhanced FA CRC check (acquired before starting the role)
Abilities/Skills/Knowledge
Specific Experience
- Experience working in Elite Football or Elite Sport
- Experience of leading pitch and gym-based rehabilitation and recovery sessions
- Experience of developing and delivering rehabilitation and Injury reduction strategies.
- Highly experienced in the planning and delivery of gym-based and pitch-based football rehabilitation programs
- Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team in providing performance support to athletes
- Experience of collaborating with sport science staff in the use of technologies and software systems, and the use of data to inform rehabilitation and return to training and competition programmes.
Knowledge and experience of the women’s game, specifically the existence and implications of
- different governance and structures
- the growth of the women’s game
- player pathways
- awareness and coverage of the women’s game
- required coaching behaviours in the women’s and girl’s games
- technical and tactical differences between men’s and women’s football
- career development opportunities
- coaching environment
- An up to date understanding of Child Protection and Safeguarding procedures
- Knowledge and Awareness of diversity and equality challenges in football
Safeguarding
Charlton Athletic Football club are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We endeavour to provide a fun, safe and welcoming environment where children and young people feel respected and valued.
If you are successful then you will be required to undertake an Enhanced DBS.
Additional Information
- This a full-time role that includes work on weekends and evenings
- Applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK
- Charlton Athletic is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. This post is subject to a satisfactory DBS Disclosure
- As such, this post is exempt for the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) and the successful candidate must disclose all convictions spent convictions should be declared, that have not been subject to filtering by the DBS
- We are committed to the principle of equal opportunity in employment and our employment policies for recruitment, selection, training, development and promotion, which are designed to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, ethnic and national origin, disability or gender.
- Any personal data that you provide to Charlton Athletic Football Club Ltd (data controller) will be processed in line with applicable data protection laws and will be used only for the purpose of recruitment.
- We will keep your personal information for 6 months after which we will erase it. You can always choose to have your data erased earlier by emailing us at dpo@cafc.co.uk.
- We’d love to hear from you if you believe you can meet the challenges of working within an elite sporting environment.
To apply for this job please visit cafc.peoplehr.net.