Safeguarding at Ballrz

Ballrz is operated by BALLRZ LTD.

Company name: BALLRZ LTD
Company number: 16802068
Registered office: 2 Frederick Street, Kings Cross, London, United Kingdom, WC1X 0ND
Platform and safeguarding contact: hello@ballrz.co.uk
Privacy and data protection contact: gdpr@ballrz.co.uk

In this policy, “Ballrz”, “we”, “us” and “our” means BALLRZ LTD.

This policy explains how Ballrz approaches safeguarding, child privacy, controlled contact, reporting and what to do if something goes wrong.

Ballrz helps people find local grassroots football. We reduce risk through anonymous child and youth details, contact based on roles, and no public display of personal contact details. We do not replace your club’s safeguarding procedures, and we are not a safeguarding authority.

This policy applies to:

• Parents and guardians.
• Players aged 16 and over where that feature is available.
• Coaches.
• Club officials.
• Users browsing or contacting through Ballrz.
• Users posting cards, team opportunities, Team trials, tournaments, enquiries or messages.
• Anyone reporting content, behaviour or a concern through Ballrz.

• Public search is limited to clubs, teams, posts, Team trials and tournaments, not individual child profiles.
• Players aged 16 to 17 use a chosen display name in public listings. Limited football details and a general area can be shown. Account contact details are not included.
• Contact for a player under 16 is managed by a parent or guardian.
• Contact happens through role based accounts, within football context.
• Club officials manage coach links and inbound enquiries.
• Report tools are available on profiles, posts, cards, enquiries and messages.
• Content that creates a safeguarding or privacy risk can be removed.

Ballrz reduces risk. It does not eliminate it. It is not a substitute for your club’s own safeguarding practices, DBS checks, or FA welfare procedures.

Ballrz does not replace:

• A club welfare officer.
• A league welfare officer.
• A County FA safeguarding or welfare team.
• The FA’s safeguarding team or procedures.
• Police.
• Children’s services.
• NSPCC.
• CEOP.
• A parent or guardian’s own checks and judgement.
• A club’s safeguarding, recruitment, training, welfare or legal responsibilities.
• A coach’s safeguarding duties.
• Any applicable league, County FA, FA or national governing body requirements.

If a concern is serious, urgent or involves a child being at risk, users should use the appropriate official safeguarding or emergency channel. The Child Protection in Sport Unit says you do not need to decide whether abuse has taken place before raising a concern, and immediate danger should be reported to police on 999.

Ballrz is not an emergency service.

If a child, young person or adult is in immediate danger, call 999.

If a child needs urgent medical treatment, call an ambulance or take them to hospital and explain that it is a child protection concern.

If the concern relates to football and is not an immediate emergency, users should contact the appropriate authority or service. This may include:

• The club welfare officer.
• The league welfare officer.
• The County FA welfare or safeguarding officer.
• The FA safeguarding team.
• Children’s services.
• Police on 101 for concerns that are not emergencies.
• NSPCC helpline.
• CEOP for online sexual abuse or grooming concerns.

The NSPCC says that if you think a child is in immediate danger, contact the police on 999. The FA also explains that urgent football safeguarding concerns can go through club, County FA, police, children’s social care or the FA/NSPCC helpline depending on the situation.

Do not wait for a Ballrz report, email response or product workflow where someone may be at risk of harm.

If you are worried about online sexual abuse, grooming or the way someone is communicating with a child online, report it to CEOP or the police.

CEOP is a law enforcement agency that helps keep children and young people safe from sexual exploitation and abuse online. CEOP allows children, parents, guardians and professionals to make reports to a Child Protection Advisor.

Ballrz may also review and act on platform misuse, but a Ballrz report is not a substitute for reporting online sexual abuse, grooming or exploitation to the correct authority.

Users may report content or behaviour on Ballrz where they believe it is:

• Unsafe.
• Misleading.
• Abusive.
• Discriminatory.
• Spam.
• Unlawful.
• In the wrong category.
• Used for the wrong purpose.
• Sharing unnecessary child information.
• Sharing unnecessary personal information.
• Asking for contact outside the proper flow.
• Pretending to represent a club, coach, team, tournament organiser or official role.
• Misusing a post, card, opportunity, enquiry or message.
• Creating a safeguarding, welfare, privacy or platform risk.

Ballrz may provide report buttons or reporting tools on cards, posts, opportunities, club pages, profiles, enquiries or messages.

A report to Ballrz is not an emergency or official safeguarding report. If the matter is urgent, serious or relates to a child being at risk, users should also use the appropriate safeguarding service.

When a report is made, Ballrz may review the relevant account, content, post, enquiry, message, club page, coach link or activity.

Depending on the circumstances, we may:

• Take no action.
• Ask a user to correct content.
• Edit, hide, restrict or remove content.
• Move content to a more suitable category.
• Restrict contact or messaging.
• Restrict posting access.
• Restrict coach access.
• Restrict club official access.
• Suspend or close an account.
• Remove or review a coach link.
• Pause or remove a club claim.
• Preserve information where needed for safety, safeguarding, legal, fraud prevention or dispute reasons.
• Share relevant information with a club, authority, regulator, safeguarding body or law enforcement body where lawful and necessary.

We do not guarantee that every report will result in action. We may consider the context, evidence, seriousness, user history, risk to others, platform rules and legal obligations before deciding what to do.

False, malicious, repeated or dishonest reports may lead to account restrictions.

Ballrz is not an open messaging platform.

Where Ballrz offers messaging, enquiries or contact, contact should start from a relevant football context, such as:

• A club page.
• A club enquiry.
• A team opportunity.
• A player post or a post about a team needing players.
• A Looking for team.
• A friendly request.
• A tournament post.

Users must not use Ballrz to:

• Harass, threaten or abuse another person.
• Send spam.
• Send marketing without permission.
• Share unnecessary child information.
• Ask children to contact them outside parent managed or approved flows.
• Send inappropriate, sexual, discriminatory, violent or offensive content.
• Misrepresent identity, club, role, authority or purpose.
• Collect personal information without a proper reason.
• Bypass safeguarding, club, parent or platform controls.
• Move message threads off Ballrz for improper reasons.

Ballrz may review, restrict, remove or disclose messages where needed to operate the service, investigate reports, protect users, enforce terms, comply with the law or handle safety and safeguarding concerns.

Ballrz is designed with child privacy in mind.

A search managed by a parent should use relevant football information rather than public child profiles. This may include age group, football category, team type, broad location context and distance preference.

Users should not post unnecessary child information on Ballrz.

Users must not post or send:

• Full child names where not needed.
• Home addresses.
• School details.
• Medical information unless genuinely necessary and appropriate.
• Sensitive safeguarding information in ordinary messages.
• Identity documents.
• Photos of children unless a feature specifically allows it and proper permission is in place.
• Anything that could put a child at unnecessary risk.

Children’s personal data receives particular protection under UK GDPR. The ICO says the UK GDPR includes provisions intended to enhance protection of children’s personal data and that children should be addressed in plain, clear language they can understand.

Ballrz may remove, restrict or review content that includes unnecessary child personal information or creates a privacy or safeguarding risk.

Parents and guardians remain responsible for deciding whether a club, coach, team, event, card, post or opportunity is suitable for their child.

Before a child attends any activity, parents and guardians should make their own checks. These may include checking:

• The club’s official identity.
• The coach or organiser’s role.
• The club welfare contact.
• The training or event location.
• Age group and playing level.
• Session details.
• Who will supervise the activity.
• Whether the club is affiliated to the relevant governing body.
• Relevant County FA, league or club information.
• Any safeguarding or welfare arrangements.
• Any trial, tournament, camp or event terms.

Ballrz helps with search and controlled contact, but it does not verify every arrangement outside Ballrz or guarantee suitability.

Parents and guardians should not rely only on information shown on Ballrz when making decisions about a child attending football activity.

Coaches using Ballrz must use the platform responsibly and in line with applicable safeguarding, welfare, club, league, County FA and FA requirements.

Coaches must:

• Use accurate identity, club and team information.
• Only post genuine football activity.
• Keep team opportunities, friendly requests and posts accurate.
• Respect parent managed child flows.
• Avoid unnecessary child personal information.
• Avoid contact that is inappropriate, excessive, irrelevant or outside the proper Ballrz context.
• Avoid moving message threads off Ballrz for improper reasons.
• Comply with club and governing body safeguarding expectations.
• Not use Ballrz to bypass parents, guardians, club officials, safeguarding rules or role permissions.

If a coach is linked to a claimed club, the coach may need approval from the relevant club official before acting in relation to that club on Ballrz.

Ballrz may restrict or remove coach access where we reasonably believe there is misuse, false representation, unsafe contact, safeguarding risk, club authority risk or breach of our Terms.

Club officials using Ballrz must only claim, manage or edit a club where they are authorised to do so.

Club officials should:

• Keep club information accurate.
• Handle enquiries responsibly.
• Manage coach links carefully.
• Approve only coaches who should be linked to the club.
• Remove coach links when they are no longer accurate.
• Avoid exposing unnecessary personal or child information.
• Follow appropriate club, league, County FA and FA safeguarding procedures.
• Respond appropriately to welfare or safeguarding concerns that arise through club activity.

Ballrz may ask for information to support a club claim or club official approval. We may approve, reject, suspend or remove club authority where we reasonably believe the claim is incorrect, unsupported, disputed, risky or no longer appropriate.

Ballrz posts, cards, Team trials, tournaments and enquiries must be relevant to grassroots football and appropriate for the audience using them.

Users must not use Ballrz to:

• Post misleading or unsafe opportunities.
• Advertise unrelated services.
• Target children inappropriately.
• Collect unnecessary personal information.
• Bypass platform contact controls.
• Send spam.
• Promote prohibited goods or services.
• Misrepresent offers, prices, events or availability.

Ballrz may remove content that is spammy, misleading, unsafe, unlawful, wrongly categorised, unrelated to football or unsuitable for the platform.

If a user repeatedly or seriously misuses Ballrz, we may restrict messaging, remove content or close the account.

Ballrz uses different post types, cards and enquiries for different football purposes.

Each post type must be used only for its intended purpose.

For example:

• Player posts or posts about teams needing players must be used for genuine recruitment activity.
• Tournament posts must be used for genuine tournament, competition or football event activity.
• Friendly requests must be used for arranging genuine football friendlies.
• Club enquiries must be used for relevant club matters.

Posts, cards, team opportunities and enquiries must not be used to:

• Spam users.
• Promote unrelated services.
• Collect unnecessary personal data.
• Bypass contact controls.
• Mislead users.
• Target children inappropriately.
• Avoid moderation or category rules.

Ballrz may remove, restrict, hide or reclassify content that is inaccurate, irrelevant, misleading, unsafe, unlawful, in the wrong category, used for the wrong purpose or unsuitable for Ballrz.

If a safeguarding concern relates to a specific club, coach, team, match, tournament, camp, trial or training session, users should report it through the appropriate service.

Depending on the issue, this may include:

• The club welfare officer.
• The league welfare officer.
• The County FA welfare officer.
• The FA safeguarding team.
• Police.
• Children’s services.
• NSPCC.
• CEOP for online grooming or sexual abuse concerns.

The FA states that football safeguarding concerns can be reported through the club welfare officer, league welfare officer or County FA designated safeguarding officer, and emergency concerns should go to police or children’s services.

Ballrz may act on platform misuse, but it cannot replace football safeguarding services.

Where a safeguarding, welfare, safety, abuse or platform misuse concern is reported to Ballrz, we may keep relevant records.

This may include:

• Account details.
• Reports.
• Messages.
• Enquiries.
• Posts.
• Club pages.
• Coach links.
• Technical logs.
• Moderation notes.
• Actions taken by Ballrz.

We may keep and share relevant information where lawful and necessary to:

• Protect users, children, clubs or the platform.
• Investigate misuse.
• Respond to serious safety concerns.
• Comply with legal obligations.
• Assist law enforcement, regulators or safeguarding bodies.
• Handle disputes, complaints or claims.
• Prevent fraud, spam or abuse.
• Support club authority, coach approval or moderation decisions.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information, lawful bases, retention and account deletion.

Ballrz will treat safeguarding, welfare and report information carefully.

However, confidentiality is not absolute.

Where we believe information needs to be shared to protect a child, protect another person, comply with the law, investigate misuse, respond to a regulator or assist law enforcement, we may share relevant information where lawful and necessary.

Users should not promise absolute confidentiality when a child or another person may be at risk.

Ballrz may use platform controls to reduce risk, including:

• Account verification.
• Access based on roles.
• Club claim and approval flows.
• Coach approval flows where available.
• Controlled contact channels.
• Report buttons.
• Moderation review.
• Content restrictions.
• Post category rules.
• Rate limits.
• Spam prevention.
• Account restrictions.
• Audit logs.
• Removal of unsafe or unsuitable content.

These controls support safer digital search, but they do not guarantee that every user, club, coach, post, opportunity or enquiry is safe or accurate.

Ballrz users who work with children in football should follow the safeguarding training and requirements set by their club, league, County FA, FA or relevant governing body.

Ballrz may provide platform guidance to users about safer use of Ballrz, correct post types, controlled contact, report tools and child privacy.

Ballrz does not provide formal football safeguarding certification unless expressly stated.

Where lawful and necessary, Ballrz may cooperate with:

• Police.
• Children’s services.
• Regulators.
• Safeguarding bodies.
• County FAs.
• The FA.
• Club officials.
• Professional advisers.
• Other appropriate authorities.

This may include sharing relevant information, preserving records, restricting accounts or supporting an investigation.

Users must not abuse Ballrz’s reporting or safeguarding tools.

This includes:

• Making knowingly false reports.
• Making malicious reports.
• Using reports to harass another user.
• Repeatedly reporting content in bad faith.
• Misusing safeguarding language to attack another person.
• Submitting irrelevant or misleading reports.

Dishonest or malicious reporting may lead to account restrictions.

All users are responsible for using Ballrz safely and honestly.

Users should:

• Use the correct role.
• Keep information accurate.
• Use the correct post type.
• Keep contact relevant.
• Avoid unnecessary personal information.
• Avoid unnecessary child information.
• Report platform misuse where appropriate.
• Use official safeguarding channels for serious or urgent concerns.
• Respect the privacy of other users.
• Not misrepresent a club, coach, team, tournament or role.
• Not bypass contact controls.
• Not target, exploit, harass or endanger children.

If you are unsure whether something is a safeguarding concern, take advice from the appropriate service.

Depending on the situation, this may include:

• The club welfare officer.
• The league welfare officer.
• The County FA safeguarding or welfare contact.
• The FA safeguarding team.
• NSPCC.
• CEOP.
• Police or children’s services.

The NSPCC says that if you have a safeguarding concern, you must take action, and if a child is in immediate danger, contact police on 999.

Platform concerns, misuse, or safeguarding issues connected to Ballrz:

hello@ballrz.co.uk

Technical problems or something not working:

support@ballrz.co.uk

Ideas or suggestions:

ideas@ballrz.co.uk

Privacy, data, or GDPR requests:

gdpr@ballrz.co.uk

Ballrz is new. If something is not working, including contact or content handling, please report it so we can fix it. We’d rather know.

None of these addresses are emergency services. If someone is at immediate risk, call 999.