Online safety – getting the basics right

Using the internet to share your matchday progress or innovative training ideas can be a great way to help spread the positive message of football.

However, it’s incredibly important to recognise the impact of online activity: anything you post can leave a permanent record.
If you choose to use the internet as part of your role in football, make sure that:

• anything your share is broadcast to a group – and never to an individual player
• your online communication is football focused and maintains appropriate boundaries
• when posting video or photography, you have full consent to use the imagery of all children involved
• any digital activity takes place on your club website or at team events, not a personal social media page.

Recognising unacceptable online behaviour
This can fall into two categories: misuse and abuse. Misuse is the deliberate use of online platforms in the wrong way, often with the intention of abusing others. Abuse covers a range of behaviours intended to be aggressive towards others. 

Examples of misuse: 

• using anonymity to be cruel and unkind
• creating fake profiles against the rules of the site
• intentionally using the service’s features to disrupt others
• hacking others’ accounts, abusive swearing, or creating multiple accounts for trolling.

Examples of abuse:

• online harassment or gossip
• impersonating someone to their detriment
• stealing personal information – or content – and sharing it
• posting nasty and cruel comments to deliberately upset others
• bullying (which includes excluding users intentionally from a group, as well as self bullying)
• physical or emotional abuse (such as hitting, choking, whipping, crushing, humiliating or verbally abusing a child).
• trolling (posting deliberately offensive or provocative information online that aims to upset someone or provoke an angry response).

What next?

To access The FA's guidance on photography and film or to download an example consent form, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.