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Our governance team

Our governance team handles issues surrounding:

  • Safeguarding
  • Equality
  • Disciplinary matters
  • Anti-doping
  • Data protection, including Subject Access Requests
  • Complaints

The governance team liaise with the welfare officers at your club. We also manage all safeguarding cases and you should report any concerns to us – whether they’re serious issues or examples of poor practice.

The team manage the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) on behalf of golf. We also offer advice on DBS and safe recruitment.

To talk to our governance team, call 01526 351824 or email compliance@englandgolf.org

Emily Green

Role: Head of Legal

Emily heads up the department with overall responsibility for legal, governance and safeguarding within England Golf.  She works closely with all other departments in the organisation including the Board, ensuring that England Golf takes its safeguarding responsibility seriously at the highest level.

Emily is a solicitor, having trained with a Legal 500 rated firm, qualifying in 2006.  She joined England Golf in 2018 after 12 years as a commercial litigator in private practice, and in that time has overseen the development of the department into the six-strong team it is today.

Ash Wilson

Role: Lead Safeguarding Officer

Ash is responsible for supervising and directing the day to day management of new and ongoing safeguarding concerns and cases.

He works closely with external safeguarding groups and manages the Disclosure and Barring Service checks provided by England Golf.

Ash contributes to safeguarding training for clubs and counties, as well as within England Golf.

Ash joined the safeguarding team in 2019 after a successful and rewarding 30-year career with Nottinghamshire Police.

Ash has senior manager expertise in all areas of criminal investigation and public protection cases and management.

Di Murray MBE

Role: National Welfare Officer

Di woks with the Performance squads to ensure we identify and manage any safeguarding risks when the teams are training or representing England Golf.

She works with the coaches, support staff, players and parents/ guardians. This collaborative approach creates the ideal opportunity for our junior players to perform to their best in a safe and enjoyable environment.

Di joined England Golf in 2018. She is an active coach, tutor and mentor across a number of sports.

Karen Naylor

Role: Administrator

Karen has worked for England Golf for 15 years and has been involved with many changes to the structure and governance of the game and has held several roles within the organisation.

Karen made the move to the Governance department in 2017 and has seen it grow from a two-person operation to the team we have today. She successfully administrates and manages the Disclosure and Barring Service applications for England Golf; she provides advice and support to all staff within the organisation and she is often the public voice of the department.

Brendan Tonks

Role: Safeguarding Case Officer

Brendan’s role is to investigate and manage the caseload efficiently and effectively. He acts as the initial fact finder/investigative officer for all reported concerns and coordinates work with the statutory authorities.

Brendan joined the safeguarding team at England Golf in 2019.

Brendan previously worked for 10 years as an independent social worker for the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, managing complex safeguarding cases. Brendan has vast experience of developing and delivering safeguarding training to a multitude of professions.

He offers safeguarding advice to sports teams and schools through ongoing voluntary roles.

Billy Methley

Role: Legal and Compliance Officer

Billy joined England Golf from a UK Top 50 Law firm, where he previously worked in commercial dispute resolution. Billy has specialist knowledge of anti-doping law and litigation at the Court of Arbitration for Sport having recently obtained a Master’s Degree in International Sports Law.

At England Golf Billy is responsible for dealing with governance, legal, and safeguarding matters. This encompasses advising England Golf internally on governance, contractual, and disciplinary matters, dealing with data protection, anti-doping and equality law issues, as well as advising and working with Clubs, Counties, and individuals externally on a wide variety of legal, golfing, and non-golfing issues.