Community Guidelines

Elite Rugby App is a trading name of BPM Performance Zone Limited, a company incorporated in New Zealand (NZBN 9429051799557), based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Version 2.4. Contact: help@eliterugbyapp.com.

Elite Rugby App is where players, coaches, parents and our team train, talk rugby and back each other. These guidelines keep it a good place to be, and a safe one for the young players who use it.

Who these apply to. Everyone who uses Elite Rugby App agrees to these guidelines whenever they send a message, post, comment, react, share, upload, name a group or choose a profile picture, in the app and anywhere else we give members a place to talk. They explain the acceptable use rules in section 17 of our Terms of Service in plain words. The Terms apply to everything here, and if the two ever seem to say different things, the Terms win.

1. Respect everyone

There is a real person behind every message, and often a young one. Disagree about rugby all you like, but go after the idea, never the person.

Don’t:

• bully, threaten, mock or shame anyone, including about their size, body, skill, position, progress or where they are on their journey;
• pile on someone for asking a simple question or posting something you have seen before;
• keep messaging someone who has asked you to stop, or follow them from chat to chat;
• use unwelcome, suggestive or insulting nicknames for anyone;
• let banter turn into abuse. If it would not be fine said face to face at your club, it is not fine here.

2. Zero tolerance for hate

Elite Rugby App is no place for hateful content, hate groups or people who promote them.

Don’t:

• attack or demean anyone because of their race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, health, body or background;
• share stereotypes, slurs, symbols or “jokes” that target a group;
• post anything that encourages hatred, violence or harm towards a person or a group.

3. Keep it clean

Keep what you write and share fit for a squad that includes young players, their parents and their coaches.

Don’t:

• share sexual, graphic, violent or shocking content, or vulgar language;
• use symbols, spacing or misspellings to get a blocked word past the filter. Trying to get round it is a breach in itself;
• use a name, profile picture or group name that is offensive or explicit.

4. Protect young players

Clubs, schools and academies bring whole squads to Elite Rugby App, and many of those players are under 18, some under 13. Every adult here has a part in keeping them safe.

Don’t:

• ask anyone under 18 for personal details, photos or videos, or for a way to reach them outside Elite Rugby App;
• try to move a conversation with a young player somewhere private, onto another app, or into a meeting in person;
• contact a young player except through their club or school’s own arrangements, if you are a coach or a club’s staff;
• share, ask for or joke about any sexual content involving a young person, ever.

Coaches follow their club’s and their union’s safeguarding rules on top of these, as our Team, Club & School Terms require. Where the app offers friends, nobody can search for you, a friend must accept, and until 16 your friends are people on your own squad (our Privacy Policy explains this).

5. Train safe, eat well

We want Elite Rugby App to help people get better for years, not to push shortcuts that hurt them. Our Health & Safety Notice applies to everything shared here.

Don’t:

• push extreme dieting, fasting, weight cutting or eating less, and never to a young player;
• dare anyone into unsafe training, dangerous challenges or training through pain or injury;
• pressure anyone to play or train with a suspected concussion. If in doubt, sit them out (see section 4 of the notice);
• promote, sell or tell people where to get steroids, banned substances or anything else on the anti-doping prohibited list;
• give medical advice you are not qualified to give, or diagnose someone else’s injury. Point them to a doctor or physio instead;
• encourage or glamorise self-harm in any way.

6. Be honest

People make training and health decisions from what they read here, so keep it true.

Don’t:

• present health, nutrition or training claims as fact when they are not backed by evidence. Sharing what worked for you is fine; saying it works for everyone is not;
• share edited, fake or out-of-context screenshots, numbers or studies to mislead people;
• fake a workout, a result or a test, or use several accounts, to top a board or win a reward (our Rewards & Referral Terms cover this too);
• spread false things about a person, a coach, a club or ERA.

7. No spam, no selling

Elite Rugby App is a place to train and talk rugby, not a place to sell.

Don’t:

• send spam, chain messages, bulk or automated messages, or messages nobody asked for;
• advertise or sell anything, recruit for another programme or service, or post promo codes or affiliate links, unless we have agreed it with you in writing;
• ask anyone for money, donations or payment outside Elite Rugby App;
• post links meant to trick people, such as fake “sources” or anything that asks for a password.

8. Be yourself

Show up as who you really are.

Don’t:

• pretend to be another member, a player, a coach, a club or a member of the ERA team;
• mislead people about who you are, how old you are, or who you are connected to;
• share your account, use someone else’s, or open another account to get around a suspension or to sway a conversation.

9. Respect privacy and our content

Everybody in a chat sees what is sent there, and anything you share can be saved by someone else. Think before you post.

Don’t:

• share anyone’s phone number, email, address, school, social media accounts or other personal details, yours included;
• share screenshots of private messages, or photos or videos of someone, without their permission, and never of a young player without their parent or guardian agreeing;
• record, copy, download outside the app or share our classes, programmes, videos or documents anywhere else. They are ours and our coaches’ (see section 15 of the Terms);
• post content you do not have the right to share, such as someone else’s video or music.

Account, billing or technical problem? Skip the group chat and email help@eliterugbyapp.com so it actually gets sorted. Our Privacy Policy explains what we do with your information.

10. Keep it legal

Don’t:

• post or do anything that breaks the law where you are, or that infringes anyone’s copyright, trademark, privacy or other rights;
• promote or arrange illegal activity, including illegal drugs, violence or illegal gambling;
• use bots, scripts or other automated tools, collect other members’ details, or try to get into accounts or parts of Elite Rugby App that are not yours;
• upload anything harmful, such as viruses, or try to disrupt, overload or break the service;
• make false or spiteful reports. Misusing the report button is a breach too.

11. How we handle things

We cannot read every message before it is sent, so your reports matter. This is what happens when something breaks these guidelines or our Terms.

1. Checks. We may refuse some words, such as hate slurs, before they are sent.
2. You report. Report a message, a chat or a person where the app offers it, and block, mute or leave a chat. Or email help@eliterugbyapp.com. A person at ERA reads every report.
3. Removal. Content that breaks these guidelines or our Terms is removed. We may keep a copy where the law requires it or to defend a legal claim (section 16 of the Terms).
4. Restrictions. Depending on how serious it is: a warning, limits on what you can post or send, suspension, or closing the account. A child-safety breach or another serious breach can mean closing the account straight away (section 21 of the Terms).
5. Serious harm.Where someone may be at risk, or the law requires it, we tell the police or the relevant authority, and where a club’s player is involved we may tell the club.
6. Review. Think we got it wrong? Email help@eliterugbyapp.com and a person will look at it again. For a suspension we reply within 2 business days, as our Terms promise.

12. Changes to these guidelines

We may update these guidelines as Elite Rugby App changes. When we do, we publish the new version here with a new date. The Terms of Service say how changes to the Terms themselves are made.