The rules of the game.

About these terms

The Bootroom is built and run by Alan, as an individual rather than a company ("we" and "us" on this page). These terms are an agreement between you and us about using the app and this website. By creating an account or using the app, you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use The Bootroom.

Our privacy policy explains how we handle personal information, and is part of these terms.

Who can use The Bootroom

• You must be 18 or over to create an account.
• The Bootroom is for the coaches, team staff, parents and guardians of grassroots football teams. Children don't sign in or have accounts.
• If you set up a team, you should have the agreement of your club, or be running the team yourself.
• You can't use The Bootroom if we've previously closed your account for breaking these terms, unless we agree otherwise.

Your account

• You sign in with your Google or Apple account. Keep that account secure, because anyone who can use it can use The Bootroom as you.
• Use your real name, so the people on your team know who you are.
• Only join a team you're actually part of, using an invite code meant for you. Don't share invite codes with anyone else.
• You're responsible for what's done with your account. If you think someone else has used it, tell us straight away.

Information about children

Coaches and parents add information about the children in a team, so it's important to get this right.

• Only add a child's information if you're their parent or guardian, or you coach their team.
• Only add what the team needs to run safely and well. Keep it accurate, and update or remove anything that's no longer right.
• Only add a photo of a child if a parent or guardian has given photo consent.
• Only add medical or injury information that helps keep the child safe while they play.
• Don't copy children's information out of The Bootroom or share it with anyone who isn't involved with the team.

The Bootroom helps teams organise themselves. It doesn't replace your club's safeguarding procedures. If you have a concern about a child's safety, follow your club's procedures and speak to your club welfare officer. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

Acceptable use

The team wall and messages are for running the team: training, matches, lifts, kit, and celebrating the players. When you use them, please be the kind of person you'd want on the touchline.

Don't post or send anything that:

• is abusive, threatening, bullying, harassing or discriminatory, including about anyone's race, religion, sex, sexuality, gender identity, disability or age
• is sexual, violent or otherwise unsuitable for a space about children
• criticises or embarrasses a child, or compares children in a hurtful way
• shares someone else's personal information without their permission
• is misleading, impersonates someone else, or is spam or advertising
• breaks the law, or encourages someone else to

Don't use The Bootroom to contact a child directly, or try to get round who can see what. Don't try to break, overload or get into any part of The Bootroom you're not meant to, or copy it or its content by automated means.

We expect everyone to follow the spirit of the FA's Respect programme: support the players, respect the referee and coaches, and keep it positive.

Reporting a problem

If you see a post or message that breaks these terms, report it from the app (use the menu on a wall post, or press and hold a message, and choose Report), or email coach@the-bootroom.com. Whoever wrote it isn't told who reported it. We look at every report and decide what to do, which might include removing the content or the account.

If what you've seen is a safeguarding concern, also tell your club welfare officer. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.

Your content

You own what you post and add to The Bootroom, such as messages, notes and photos. You give us permission to store it, show it to the people on your team who are allowed to see it, and use it to run the app. This permission ends when the content is deleted, apart from copies kept for a short time in backups, or kept as described below.

You're responsible for what you post. Make sure you have the right to share it, including photos you didn't take yourself.

Coaches can delete any post on their team's wall. When a post or message is deleted, it's hidden from everyone, but we may keep a copy for a while so we can look into reports and keep children safe.

Removing content and accounts

We may remove content, or suspend or close an account, if we reasonably believe that:

• it breaks these terms
• it puts anyone at risk, especially a child
• we need to, to comply with the law or a request from the police or another authority

Where it's appropriate and safe to, we'll tell you what we've done and why, and you can ask us to look at it again by emailing us. Where there's a safeguarding concern, we may pass information to your club, the FA, the police or other authorities.

You can stop using The Bootroom and delete your account at any time. We can stop offering The Bootroom, or part of it, at any time. If we do, we'll try to give you reasonable notice and a way to get a copy of your information.

Provided as is

The Bootroom is free, and still being built. We work hard to keep it running and accurate, but we provide it "as is", and we can't promise that:

• it will always be available, or free from errors
• information in it will always be right. Fixtures, availability and contact details are only as accurate as what people enter.
• notifications and reminders will always arrive, or arrive on time
• maps, directions and weather forecasts from other providers will be right

The Bootroom doesn't replace your club's or league's official systems, such as the FA's registration and results tools, or your club's safeguarding and medical procedures. In an emergency, always call 999.

Test versions of the app may have rough edges, and we may reset test data while we fix things.

Our liability

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that can't be limited or excluded by law. If you use The Bootroom as a consumer, you have legal rights that these terms don't affect.

Apart from that, and as far as the law allows:

• we're not responsible for content posted or added by other people, or for what they do with information they see in the app
• we're not responsible for losses that weren't reasonably foreseeable, or for business losses
• we're not responsible for problems caused by things outside our reasonable control, such as failures of the services we rely on

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms as The Bootroom changes. We'll update the date at the top of this page and, if a change is significant, tell you in the app before it takes effect. If you keep using The Bootroom after that, you're agreeing to the new terms.

The law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and any dispute about them will be dealt with by the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts.

If any part of these terms turns out not to be valid, the rest still applies.

Contact us

For questions about these terms, email coach@the-bootroom.com.