Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Radcliffe Town SC ("we", "our", "us") is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. As an independent grassroots sports organisation, we collect and process personal data to manage memberships, organise football activities, and ensure the safeguarding of all our players, coaches, and volunteers.

This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

2. The Data We Collect

To operate the club effectively and safely, we may collect, use, and store the following types of personal data:

• Identity Data: First name, last name, date of birth, and gender.
• Contact Data: Billing address, email address, and telephone numbers (including mobile numbers for SMS alerts).
• Emergency & Medical Data: Names and phone numbers of emergency contacts, and relevant medical conditions or allergies required to ensure player safety during training and matches.
• Media & Imagery: Player headshots, team photographs, and video footage (subject to explicit photo consent).
• Performance Data: Team assignments, age groups, match statistics, and club recognition.

3. How We Use Your Data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we use your data to:

• Register players and process club memberships.
• Organise fixtures, training sessions, and tournaments.
• Communicate important club updates, newsletters, and last-minute changes via email or SMS.
• Ensure the health, safety, and safeguarding of all members, particularly junior players.
• Celebrate player achievements on our secure club portal and public channels (where appropriate consent has been granted).
• Maintain accurate club administration and financial records.

4. Our Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your data. We rely on the following bases:

• Contract: Processing is necessary to fulfil our membership agreement with you.
• Legal Obligation: Processing is necessary to comply with the law, particularly regarding safeguarding, health and safety, and The Football Association (FA) regulations.
• Legitimate Interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate interests in running Radcliffe Town SC, provided those interests do not override your fundamental rights.
• Consent: For specific actions, such as capturing and displaying player headshots or sending marketing communications, we rely on your explicit consent. You have the right to withdraw this consent at any time.

5. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell your personal data to any third parties. We may share your data with trusted third parties strictly for the purposes of running the club, including:

• Governing Bodies: The FA and affiliated regional FAs for player registration and disciplinary matters.
• Leagues: Relevant leagues for fixture administration and player eligibility.
• Service Providers: Secure IT and software providers who host our club portal, database, and communication platforms.

All third parties are required to respect the security of your personal data and treat it in accordance with the law.

6. Safeguarding & Junior Players

The protection of our junior members is our highest priority. For players under the age of 18, we collect data exclusively from, or with the consent of, parents or legal guardians. When displaying junior player achievements, we enforce strict safeguarding protocols, such as anonymising surnames and restricting the display of photographs unless explicit photo consent has been provided and verified in our database.

7. Data Security & Retention

We have implemented appropriate security measures within our club portal and databases to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. Access to sensitive information, such as medical data and emergency contacts, is strictly limited to authorised coaching and administrative staff on a need-to-know basis.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or FA reporting requirements. Once a player leaves the club, their data is securely deleted or anonymised in accordance with our retention schedule.