Safeguarding & Online Safety

Ovalball is a technology provider. We build and run the software a club uses to organise its rugby.

Ovalball is not a safeguarding authority. It is not the RFU or the RFL, not the police, and not an emergency service. It does not investigate concerns or make safeguarding decisions.

Rugby clubs retain their own safeguarding responsibilities, including those owed to their governing body. That includes deciding who holds a role at the club, ensuring the right people are appointed and vetted, and following their own safeguarding policy and reporting routes.

Our responsibility is to build the service so that access is properly controlled, and to act on reports of misuse of the platform.

• Access depends on role and relationship. Belonging to one club gives no access to another club's players, and a role over one team gives no authority over another.
• Guardian access is tied to a specific player. It is not a general permission, and it does not confer club or team administration.
• A young player's own login, where enabled, is governed by permissions their linked guardian controls and can withdraw.
• Date of birth drives the rugby age grade, which governs which teams a player may play for and which protections apply.
• Playing outside the normal age grade requires a recorded dispensation, including governing-body approval where that is required.
• Messaging is scoped to a fixture, club or team rather than being open person-to-person across the platform.
• Messages can be reported, and significant administrative actions are recorded in an audit log.
• Access rules are enforced by the database itself, so an unauthorised request is refused by the service rather than merely hidden in the interface.

If someone is using Ovalball inappropriately — for example sending unsuitable messages, or accessing information they have no authority to see — report it.

• Tell your club's safeguarding lead or a club administrator. They can act immediately on roles and access at the club.
• Report the message within Ovalball where the reporting option is available.
• Contact Pipaxon Technologies Ltd at hello@ovalball.co.uk or through the Ovalball contact page, choosing “Safeguarding / online safety”. This address is monitored during ordinary working hours and is not an emergency service — if a child is at immediate risk, always use the emergency guidance above first.

Where a concern indicates a risk to a child, it should also go to the club’s safeguarding lead and, where appropriate, to the relevant governing body or statutory services. Reporting to us does not replace those routes.

Depending on what is reported, we may restrict access, suspend an account, remove content where appropriate, inform the club, or contact law enforcement or a regulator where that is appropriate or legally required.

There is a page written for young players explaining what is stored about them, who can see it, and the rights they have: Your Privacy on Ovalball.