Whilst we are aware some may be reticent to provide a parent/carer email address and date of birth, they will be required to do this in order to have their registration processed in 2021/22, however some Leagues have opted to make this mandatory this coming season, 2020/21 to get ahead of the curve.
In order to comply with the GDPR in circumstances where we are acting as a "data controller" we have to ensure the personal data is collected for a specified, explicit and legitimate purpose.
The rationale of creating a FAN for Parent/Carer is to validate identification of users of Whole Game System and Matchday. We use email address and date of birth to confirm the identification of individuals before they can access the Whole Game System and Matchday (which will provide availability, fixtures, results, scores etc. for their Team). Validating the identity of Parents/Carers is key to the safeguarding of our young participants and vulnerable adults. The validation of personal data such as name, email and DOB allow us to safeguard access to Whole Game and the child FAN record when a Parent/Carer is assigned to their FAN. Whilst some people may be used to providing two unique identifiers, the addition of a DOB, allows us to add a third and ensure parents being linked are legitimate and can validate their details on gaining access/setting a password to their WGS account, which also allows access to Matchday App too.
Some of the benefits of having access to WGS and Matchday are:
- Contact details for every registered participant in affiliated football in England, allowing them access to the fast-growing FA Digital Offer, such as Whole Game System, Matchday etc
- Ability for the FA to directly communicate with participants relating to their football involvement. i.e. Sin Bin introduction, safeguarding messages to Parents/Carers can be communicated directly
- Saving Club and League volunteers time and money. Making player registration and other Club and League administration processes quicker and more efficient
- Allowing an individual to manage their own data and update this when required via Whole Game System now registration is online
We hope the above provides an insight into the reasons why this is being mandated and will hopefully alleviate the concern of being sent marketing emails. In line with new data protection legislation, an individual must opt in for us to be able to send such marketing emails. They can also opt out of direct marketing emails at any time.