Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 18 March 2026

1. Introduction

Clonakilty AFC (referred to as “the Club”, “we”, “us”, or “our”) is a voluntary sporting organisation based in Clonakilty Co Cork, Ireland. We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We value the trust placed in us by our members, visitors, and the community.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, process, and disclose personal information (personal data) about you when you visit our website https://clonafc.ie/ (the “Site”), become a member, attend our events, or otherwise engage with our club.

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, Clonakilty AFC is the “Data Controller” of the personal data we hold about you.

2. Information We Collect About You

We may collect and process the following types of personal data about you:

(i) Information you provide to us directly:

You may give us information by filling in forms on our Site, joining as a member, signing up for our newsletter, or by corresponding with us by phone, email, or otherwise. This includes:

Identity Data: First name, surname, and title.
Contact Data: Email address, telephone number, and postal address (usually required for membership).
Financial Data: If you pay for membership or make a donation online, your payment details are processed securely by our third-party payment processors (e.g., PayPal or Stripe). We do not store your full credit or debit card details ourselves.
Health and Medical Data (Special Category Data): Information regarding allergies, medical conditions, or previous injuries that you or your child may have. We collect this strictly for health, safety, and insurance purposes to ensure members can safely participate in club activities.
Safeguarding Data: For coaches, committee members, and volunteers, we collect information relating to Garda Vetting and child safeguarding training to comply with FAI and national child protection laws.
Media Data: Photographs and video recordings taken at matches, training sessions, or club events which may be used for promotional purposes.
Children’s Data: As a sports club with underage teams, we process the personal data of minors (under 18s). This data is collected directly from, and with the consent of, a parent or legal guardian.

(ii) Information we collect automatically:

When you visit our Site, we may automatically collect certain technical information to help us improve the user experience. This includes:

Technical Data: Internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system, and platform.
Usage Data: Information about how you use our Site, such as which pages you visit and how long you spend on them. We normally use Google Analytics for this purpose (see the Cookies section below).

3. How We Use Your Information

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

To manage your membership: To process your application, send renewal notices, and keep you informed about club business (Legal basis: Performance of a contract).
To communicate with you: To respond to your enquiries or feedback (Legal basis: Legitimate interests).
To send you our newsletter or event updates: Only if you have explicitly opted-in to receive these communications (Legal basis: Consent). You may unsubscribe at any time.
To process payments and donations: (Legal basis: Performance of a contract).
To administer and protect our Site: Including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, and system maintenance (Legal basis: Legitimate interests for running our organisation).
To comply with a legal obligation: Where we are required by law to process or share your data.
To ensure player welfare and safety: To manage medical emergencies or accommodate specific health needs during training and matches (Legal basis: Explicit consent and vital interests).
To comply with child protection laws: To process Garda Vetting and safeguard minors within the club (Legal basis: Legal obligation).
To promote the club: To share match updates, team photos, or promotional material on our Site and social media channels. Parents/players have the right to opt-out of having their image shared (Legal basis: Legitimate interests and/or Consent).

4. Cookies

Our Site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our Site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Site and also allows us to improve our Site.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. We use essential cookies to make the site function, and analytical cookies (like Google Analytics) to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around the site when they are using it.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

5. Disclosure of Your Information

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving our members, so long as those parties agree to keep this information confidential and secure. These may include:

Service Providers: Companies that provide IT and system administration services, email marketing platforms (e.g., Mailchimp), and website hosting
Payment Processors: Secure third parties used to process online payments
Professional Advisers: Including lawyers, bankers, auditors, and insurers who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance, and accounting services
Regulators/Authorities: If required by law or if necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Club or others.
Sporting Governing Bodies: We share necessary player and member data with governing bodies such as the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), the Munster Football Association (MFA), and relevant local leagues (e.g., Cork Schoolboys/Schoolgirls Leagues) for the purposes of player registration, league administration, and insurance.

6. Data Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. For example, our website uses an SSL certificate to encrypt data transmitted between your browser and our server.

We limit access to your personal data to those committee members or volunteers who have a genuine business need to know it.

7. Data Retention

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 reporting requirements.

For example, we generally keep membership records for the duration of your membership, and financial transaction records for a period of six to seven years to comply with tax regulations.

8. Your Legal Rights

Under GDPR, you have rights regarding your personal data, including the right to:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”).
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you.
Request erasure of your personal data (the “right to be forgotten”) in certain circumstances. 
Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data. 
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party.
Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data (such as for newsletters).

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity before enacting these rights.

9. Third-Party Links

Our Site includes links to third-party websites (examples include FAI, local sponsors). Clicking on those links may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our Site, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

10. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact our secretary:

By email: clonakiltysoccerafc@gmail.com

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Data Protection Commission (DPC), the Irish supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.dataprotection.ie). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the DPC, so please contact us in the first instance.