Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how the FCOPS Southern Counties Football League collects, uses, shares and protects personal information, and the rights you have over your data under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

Who we are

The FCOPS Southern Counties Football League ("the League", "we", "us" or "our") is an unincorporated association that organises semi-professional club football across Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and the Kentish Weald, and operates the website at southerncounties.football. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy.

For any privacy question, or to exercise your rights, contact us at privacy@southerncounties.football.

The information we collect

We collect the following information about players who register with a member club.

Identity and contact details: your first and last name, any display name, date of birth, email address and phone number.

A photograph: a headshot you provide when you register, which is shown on public squad and player pages (see "Information we publish" below).

Eligibility information, including health-related data: depending on the route by which you qualify to play, this can include your height, weight and body mass index (BMI), and details of your participation in the MANvFAT programme (such as membership identifiers and the club you attend). You may also upload supporting evidence, for example a weigh-in or membership document. Because this information can reveal details about your health, it is treated as special category data and is only processed with your explicit consent (see "Special category data").

Playing information: your playing position, squad number and previous club.

Emergency contact details: the name and contact details of a next of kin or emergency contact you give us.

We also collect information about club officials, managers and administrators.

Account details: name, email address, phone number and a password. The password is stored only in hashed form by our authentication provider; we never see it in readable form.

Club contact details: the contact email and phone number for your club, which are published on the club's public page.

We collect information generated as the competition runs.

Match and disciplinary records: appearances, goals, assists, cards, suspensions, transfers and related notes.

Match official details: for referees and officials we record name, contact details and qualifications.

We collect limited technical information. When you submit a registration or record a consent, we capture your IP address and browser information (user agent) as part of that record, to help confirm the origin of the submission and protect against misuse. Information about cookies and similar technologies is set out in our Cookie Policy.

How we use your information, and our lawful bases

To administer the League: process registrations, verify eligibility and age, manage squads, schedule fixtures, record results, manage transfers and run the competition. Our lawful basis is the performance of our arrangements with you and our member clubs (Article 6(1)(b)) and our legitimate interests in running the competition (Article 6(1)(f)).

To publish the competition: show squad lists, player profiles and photographs, league standings, statistics and indicative player valuations on our public website. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in operating a public football competition (Article 6(1)(f)). Please read "Information we publish" so you understand what is visible to the public.

To verify that players are eligible and aged 18 or over: our lawful basis is our legitimate interests and, where applicable, compliance with rules we are required to follow (Article 6(1)(f) and Article 6(1)(c)).

To contact you: send transactional emails such as registration confirmations, approvals, rejections, manager invitations and competition notifications. Our lawful basis is the performance of our arrangements with you and our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(b) and Article 6(1)(f)). We do not operate a marketing mailing list.

To keep records and protect the League: maintain consent records and limited technical data to evidence consent, keep our systems secure and prevent fraud and abuse. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests and our need to demonstrate compliance (Article 6(1)(f) and Article 6(1)(c)).

Special category data (health-related information)

Where you register on a route that involves health-related information, for example your height, weight and BMI, your participation in the MANvFAT programme, or supporting evidence of these, we rely on your explicit consent (Article 9(2)(a) of the UK GDPR). You give this consent when you submit your registration. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting privacy@southerncounties.football. If you do, we will stop using that information, although this may mean we can no longer confirm your eligibility to play.

When you give us someone else's details

If you give us details of a next of kin or emergency contact, please make sure that person knows you have done so and is content for us to hold their details for that purpose, and please share this Privacy Policy with them. We use emergency contact details only to contact that person in connection with your participation, including in an emergency.

Information we publish

The League runs a public website. By taking part you should be aware that the following information is visible to anyone who visits the site: your name and any display name, your photograph, your club, playing position and squad number, and your match statistics, appearances, disciplinary record and indicative valuation. Club contact details are also published on the club's page, and match officials' names appear on the fixtures they officiate. We do not publish your date of birth, email address, phone number, emergency contact details, or any health-related information.

Who we share your information with

We use a small number of trusted service providers ("processors") who process personal information on our behalf and under contract.

Supabase: our database, sign-in and file storage provider, which stores the information described above. Data is held within the European Economic Area (Ireland).

Vercel: our website hosting and application platform, through which requests to the site are processed.

Resend: our email delivery provider, used to send the transactional emails described above.

Google: we use Google Fonts to display the site's typefaces; when your browser loads a page it requests fonts from Google, which may receive your IP address.

We may also share information with The Football Association or other bodies where we are required or permitted to do so for the proper governance of the game, and with others where we are required to by law, to establish or defend legal claims, or to protect the rights and safety of people involved in the League. We do not sell your personal information and we do not use it for third-party advertising.

International transfers

Some of our providers are based outside the UK. Where information is transferred outside the UK, we make sure it is protected by appropriate safeguards, for example a UK adequacy regulation, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum, or the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it.

Registration and contact details: while you are involved with the League and, after you leave, normally no longer than 12 months, unless we need to keep them longer for a legal reason.

Supporting eligibility evidence: deleted once your eligibility has been confirmed and any review period has passed, and in any event normally within 6 months of the registration decision.

Health-related information such as BMI: kept only for as long as needed to administer your eligibility, and not normally beyond the season in which you registered, unless re-confirmation is needed.

Rejected or withdrawn registrations: normally deleted within 6 months of the decision.

Emergency contact details: kept while you are an active player and deleted when you leave.

Match, disciplinary and competition records: kept as part of the League's permanent sporting record, which may mean indefinitely, limited to what is needed for that historical record.

Consent records: kept for up to 6 years after the related processing ends, as evidence of the consent given.

Account details for managers and officials: kept for the life of the account and normally deleted or anonymised within 12 months of the account being closed.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to: ask for a copy of the information we hold about you; ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete; ask us to delete your information; ask us to restrict or object to how we use it; ask us to transfer certain information to another organisation; and, where we rely on consent, withdraw that consent at any time. Some of these rights only apply in certain circumstances, and we may need to keep some information, for example the permanent competition record, where we have a lawful reason to do so.

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@southerncounties.football. We may need to confirm your identity before we act on a request, and we will respond within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator, at ico.org.uk. We would, however, appreciate the chance to address your concerns first.

How we protect your information

We restrict access to personal information to the club officials and League administrators who need it. Supporting evidence files are kept in private storage and are only accessible through short-lived, access-controlled links. Information is encrypted while in transit. Access to the site's administration areas requires a personal account.

Children

The League is an 18-and-over competition. We do not knowingly collect or process the personal information of anyone under the age of 18. If you believe a person under 18 has registered, please contact privacy@southerncounties.football.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The version number and effective date are shown at the top of this page. Where changes are significant we will take reasonable steps to make players and clubs aware.

How to contact us

For any question about this policy or your personal information, contact us at privacy@southerncounties.football.