A Garda investigation has been launched after one child kicking a soccer ball in Ennis was approached by a man claiming to be a scout for an English soccer club.

Soccer clubs in the county have been contacted by the Clare Schoolboys/Schoolgirls Soccer League (CSSL) after one young boy who was on his own playing soccer in Lees Rd was summoned by a man who pretended to be a scout for a prominent club in England.

Dermot Mahony, Public Relations Officer and Vice Chairman of the CSSL told The Clare Echo that the safety of children remains their number one priority. “In a scenario like this the most important thing in the CSSL we have about 2,500 kids and they are the important thing. We must ensure that any kids that are in our care and in the care of coaches are well looked after and there are no incidents, that is paramount for the CSSL and for any sport that the kids are safe and the parents ensure they are safe when they are in our care”.

“We remind parents to always be careful, the measures we have in place in the CSSL are very strict, all our coaches would have Garda vetting and child protection courses done, that comes from the FAI and it’s the new law nowadays so we to abide by it and it’s enforced very strictly,” the Moneypoint clubman stated.

The Clare Echo understands an Ennis Town FC coach reported the incident to Gardaí. The club posted on social media to flag the occurrence, “the post by us was our natural response among others to incidents like this, our primary objective is safety of children while in our care. This is all we need to say about this,” a spokesperson for the Ennis club stated that the child involved was not a member of their club.

Gardaí are currently investigating the incident.