Football Reach app

Football Reach community rules

In one line

Football Reach squads are for noticing each other's hard work. Be kind, keep it about football, and tell us if something is wrong.

Who these rules are for

Everyone who uses squads in Football Reach: players, parents and guardians, coaches and co-coaches, and club welfare officers. Coaches also follow the coach code of conduct. Parents and players aged 13 or over accept these rules before joining a squad.

How squads work

• A squad is a closed group run by a coach who has been checked. You join only with the coach's code, and a parent approves every player under 16, and every 16 or 17 year old still on a parent's account.
• There is no free text between users. Praise, reactions and coach announcements come from fixed lists. Nobody can send a typed message, a photo, a video or a link to anyone.
• There are no direct messages, no follows, no friend requests, no public profiles and no search.
• Praise goes to one player. Only that player, their parents and the coach see it.
• Squad mates see the squad total, with no names against numbers, and the nicknames of players who finished this week's homework. Nobody sees who has not.
• There are no leaderboards for players under 13. Progress is always measured against the player's own past.

What you can send

Praise is always about effort, persistence and getting better than your own past. It is never about inborn ability, bodies or looks, and never compares one player with another.

Please do not send praise over and over to the same person, send praise that is meant as a joke at someone's expense, or use praise to pressure someone.

What coaches can send

Coaches and co-coaches can send homework drills from our library and these fixed announcements, to the whole squad only. Every one is copied to parents.

• Training is on as normal.
• Training is cancelled today.
• Training time has changed. Check your team app for the new time.
• Kick-off time has changed. Check your team app or ask your coach.
• Match day this weekend. Rest well the day before.
• Thanks for your effort this weekend. Take a rest day.
• New homework drill for this week.
• Remember your homework drill.
• Great effort this week, everyone.
• Bring a water bottle.
• Bring shin pads and the right boots.
• Cold today. Wear warm layers.
• Hot today. Bring extra water and sun cream.
• No training over the holidays. Enjoy the break.

Fixtures, venues and other details stay in the team app your club already uses.

Nicknames and squad names

Nicknames and squad names are the only typed words other people see, so they have rules.

A nickname must:

• be one word, 2 to 20 letters;
• not be the player's full name, or anyone else's;
• not contain a phone number, email address, link, school name, swear word or anything unkind;
• be approved by a parent for every player under 16.

A squad name must:

• describe the squad, for example "U11 Reds";
• not include a club name, a school name, a place, a person's name, a swear word or anything unkind.

The app checks every nickname and squad name before it is used. If one gets through that breaks these rules, report it and we will ask for a new one.

What is never allowed

• Bullying, threats, hate or anything meant to upset someone.
• Trying to get a player's contact details, or to move contact with a child outside the app.
• Pretending to be someone else, or using someone else's account.
• Sharing a squad code in public (for example on social media). Codes are for families in the squad only.
• Sharing a screenshot of another child's information outside the app.
• Using Football Reach for anything illegal.

Report, block and mute

• Report a concern is on every squad screen and in Help. Use it for anything that worries you, about a player, a parent, a coach, a nickname, a squad name or anything else. For children it is never behind the parent check.
• Block a squad mate and their praise and reactions stop reaching you, both ways. Block a coach and nothing from that coach reaches the player. They are not told.
• Mute hides what someone sends without blocking them. They are not told.

What happens after a report

1. It comes to us first. Every report is read by a person at Football Reach, within 24 hours. Nothing is forwarded automatically.
2. We keep the reporter's name private. The person reported is never told who reported them. A concern is never shown to the parent, the coach or the squad.
3. If the concern is about a coach, that coach's praise, homework and announcements are paused at once, before we have even looked, and stay paused until we have reviewed it.
4. We decide what to do, and who else needs to know: the club welfare officer, The FA's safeguarding team, the police or children's services.
5. If nobody can review a concern within 24 hours, every squad with an open concern is paused until someone can.

Depending on what happened, we may:

• ask for a new nickname or squad name;
• remove praise or an announcement;
• pause or close a squad;
• pause a coach, or stop them running squads;
• suspend or close an account;
• tell the club welfare officer, The FA, the police or children's services.

We tell the person who reported that we have dealt with it. We do not share details about anyone else.

If you disagree with a decision

If we removed something of yours, refused a nickname, paused a squad or restricted your account and you think we got it wrong, you can appeal. In the app go to Help, then Make a complaint, or use footballreach.com/complaints. We acknowledge every appeal straight away, look at it again, and tell you the outcome. Our complaints procedure explains the steps.

Breaking the rules

If someone breaks these rules we act to keep children safe first. We may do any of the things above without warning when a child's safety is at risk.

Questions about these rules: hello@footballreach.com.

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