Privacy Policy | Spennymoor Town Youth FC

1. Who We Are

Spennymoor Town Youth FC ("we", "us", "the Club") is the data controller responsible for your personal data. We are a youth football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, England. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your data in an open and transparent manner in compliance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

You can contact us about data protection matters via the contact details on our Contact page.

2. The Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Contact information — name, email address, telephone number, postal address.
Registration data — player/coach/parent registration details, date of birth, emergency contact information.
Medical information — relevant medical conditions or allergies provided for safeguarding and welfare purposes.
Financial information — payment records for membership fees and club purchases (processed securely through third-party payment providers; we do not store card details).
Photographs and video — images of players, coaches, and club events used in news articles, social media, and promotional materials.
Website usage data — IP address, browser type, and pages visited, collected automatically via cookies and analytics tools.
Account credentials — login information for members accessing the Coaches Hub or Player Portal, managed securely via Clerk.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

Registering and managing your membership or participation in the Club.
Communicating with you about fixtures, training sessions, Club news, and events.
Fulfilling our safeguarding and child-protection obligations.
Processing payments for membership fees, kit, and other Club activities.
Complying with FA, County FA, and other governing body requirements.
Improving the Club website and services through anonymised analytics.
Publishing match reports, photos, and news content (with consent where required).

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

Contract — where processing is necessary to fulfil your membership or registration.
Legal obligation — where we are required to process data to comply with safeguarding, FA registration, or other legal requirements.
Legitimate interests — to run the Club effectively and communicate with members, where such interests are not overridden by your rights.
Consent — for uses such as publishing photographs of children or sending optional newsletters. You may withdraw consent at any time.

5. Sharing Your Data

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your data with:

The Football Association (FA) and Durham County FA for player and coach registration purposes.
Trusted service providers acting as data processors on our behalf (e.g. payment processors, email platforms, website hosting).
Emergency services or statutory authorities where required for safeguarding or legal compliance.

All third parties with whom we share data are required to process it in accordance with UK GDPR.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes outlined above. Player registration and medical records are retained for the duration of membership plus six years. Financial records are retained for seven years in line with HMRC requirements. Photographs published on the website may be kept indefinitely as part of the Club's historical archive.

7. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access — to request a copy of the data we hold about you.
Right to rectification — to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure — to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing — to ask us to limit how we use your data.
Right to data portability — to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Right to object — to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Rights related to automated decision-making — we do not use solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details on our Contact page. We will respond within one month.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

8. Cookies

Our Site uses cookies to improve your experience and to help us understand how visitors use the Site. Cookies are small text files stored on your device. We use:

Strictly necessary cookies — required for the Site to function (e.g. maintaining your login session).
Analytics cookies — to collect anonymised information about how visitors use the Site, helping us improve it over time.

You can control cookie settings through your browser preferences. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the Site.

9. Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. Member login and authentication is handled securely via Clerk, an industry-standard identity platform. Payment processing is handled by certified, PCI-compliant providers.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The date of the most recent revision will be shown at the bottom of this page. Significant changes will be communicated directly to members where appropriate.

11. Contact

For any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us.

Last updated: July 2025