Kids’ football is facing another summer of chaos that could stop youngsters playing the beautiful game. Coaches are not being vetted quick enough to be given clearance to work with children – and time is running out. It has led to a huge backlog of adults waiting to be given the green light to coach kids. One fed up coach told us there was no way enough checks would be done in time and said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a shambles.鈥 The Scottish Football Association has been forced to fund emergency staff to deal with a two-month backlog in processing Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) applications for all adults dealing with kids. PVG clearance must be in place by July 1, otherwise any club or individual will be breaching new safeguarding legislation. The Daily Record can reveal that the latest registrations debacle has led the SFA to announce that a review of the running of its affiliate body, the Scottish Youth Football Association, will now be carried out. A consultancy firm is likely to be appointed in coming weeks, at the agreement of both organisations, which will probe how huge administration backlogs have severely hampered youth football for two seasons in a row. It is understood that some SYFA officials feel bitterly aggrieved at a funding gap, while the SFA board has been angered at the reputational damage caused by the disruption of a sport that involves more than 80,000 players, more than 15,000 coaches and many more from supportive families. The SFA has said the SYFA is now on 鈥渟pecial measures鈥 until the review takes place. One coach said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to see how all the leagues will be up and running by August at this rate. 鈥淲e are angry about this because the Comet system last year was a nightmare, far too complex for grassroots teams and volunteer administrators and it definitely led to people leaving the game. 鈥淭his latest admin shambles proves that more cash needs to be put into youth football. The SYFA has 15,000 coaches and a handful of staff to deal with this stuff, with no-one to take a phone call. It鈥檚 a shambles.鈥 The Daily Record told last year of the problems faced by Darren Knight, founder of the Wallyford Rose club, who young team nearly folded due to issues with the Comet system. Darren said he submitted PVG applications around two months ago and is still awaiting clearance. He said: 鈥淲e have two approved coaches, which means we will still be able to function, but, in the end, our club was so successful last year we are starting up another team. 鈥淚f the PVG clearance doesn鈥檛 come in time that would be scuppered. But we are not panicking yet and hope it gets processed in time.鈥 To raise awareness, Disclosure Scotland has launched a major advertising campaign, urging anyone in a regulated role to ensure they are fully PVG registered before the deadline. The safeguarding body is working in conjunction with the SYFA, which processes applications via the much maligned Comet system, to clear the backlog. The Daily Record last year told of widespread fury as the Scottish Football Association鈥檚 complex new Comet computer system wreaked havoc, leading to many games being postponed and some coaches saying they were giving up. Coaches have again contacted us to rage about the many hours they have spent trying to get volunteers registered. The rush for teams to get compliant overwhelmed the threadbare paid staff at the SYFA, causing the two-month backlog. One coach with many years of experience with a prominent club, said the latest hold-up was the last straw and he鈥檚 quitting the game. The coach said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e been tearing our hair out because the computer system just keeps on rejecting applications on administration errors but offer no solutions or contact details to resolve. 鈥淭he reality is that we get no calls back from the SYFA because they have no professional staff assigned to deal with this fiasco.鈥 The coach said that applications had been returned due to confusion over whether PVG applications could be transferred form one club to another. He said: 鈥淲ith the Comet system we can鈥檛 work out how we get out of the 鈥榗omputer says no鈥 loop and standard emails from the SYFA don鈥檛 help us find a solution. 鈥淲hat we need is a helpline to speak to a human being who can find solutions not a computer system that issues stock responses which basically say 鈥榗omputer says no, try again鈥.鈥 He added: 鈥淎fter 10 years of this type of nonsense I鈥檓 stopping down as a committee member and coach as it鈥檚 impossible to work under this type of incompetence.鈥 Another grassroots official said: 鈥淭his is so reminiscent of the Comet fiasco last year, where volunteers got stick on their computers for days on end and could never get a human being to sort things out for them.鈥 Officials have told us how devised workarounds by placing PVG-registered volunteers in dual roles, as they wait for other individuals to get their own clearance after the legal deadline. A SYFA spokesperson said: 鈥淲e fully understand the frustrations of our members around the delay in processing PVG applications. 鈥淲ith around 15,000 volunteer coaches in our game and more joining daily, it is a mammoth undertaking. In recent weeks, we have advertised, interviewed, and recruited an additional staff member to focus solely on tackling the backlog. 鈥淭he Scottish FA has, just last week, agreed to match our commitment and will fund a second PVG admin assistant for six months. 鈥淲e hope to reduce the backlog significantly with two new full-time people dedicated to processing PVG鈥檚. 鈥淚n addition, we will also look at the PVG process and whether this can be streamlined. In the meantime, we are working on issuing a step-by-step guide for our members.鈥 A spokesperson for the SFA said: 鈥淪YFA initially wrote to us requesting support to clear their backlog 鈥淭he Scottish FA has initiated special measures to provide funding support to clear PVG backlog, to support the operations and initiate the review.鈥 From April 1 this year, changes to the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 meant anyone in contact with or communicating with children without a PVG would be committing a criminal offence, as would the organisation they operate within. A three month period of grace takes the deadline to July 1 – meaning any teams with coaches stuck in an admin log-jam may be affected.