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Terms & Conditions

This is a list of terms and conditions that we expect everyone at the club to read, understand, and adhere to.

Club Policies

We expect all our players, parents, coaches, managers, committee members, and everyone else connected with Ormskirk FC to read, understand and adhere to our various policies and guidelines that are listed within the Club section of this website. These policies include, but are not limited to:

Club Fees

The club fees are listed on the Club Fees page. The club's bank details can be found at the bottom of this page too. It is each parent's responsibility to ensure the player subs are being paid in full, and on time. We know it can be hard to catch-up once you fall behind, so it's up to you to make sure this doesn't happen.

See the Club Fees FAQs for more info about the fees.

Attendance & Punctuality

We expect full commitment from all our players and expect them to turn up for every match and training session unless there's a good reason why they can't (e.g. they're ill, on holiday, etc). We expect all players to have a good training and match attendance, and to turn up at the time that their manager has asked them to.

Managers must be informed in advance (with as much notice as possible) if a player cannot attend a training session or match, or is going to be running late. It is not acceptable for a player to not turn up to a training session or match without having notified the manager in advance, or to regularly miss training sessions or matches at short notice.

Managers will keep a register of training and match attendance to ensure that players have an attendance rate that's at an acceptable level.

If there are any dates that players can't make training or matches due to holidays or other commitments, the manager must be informed about this with as much notice as possible in order to help them with their planning.

Medical Conditions

The club must be informed about any medical conditions (including learning difficulties) a player has when they register with the club. If medical conditions change, the club must be informed about any changes as soon as possible. To notify the club, email [email protected] in addition to letting the Manager know.

If a player requires medication (e.g. an inhaler for Asthma), you must ensure that the Manager and coaches have this in a clearly labelled bag with the player's name on, together with any instructions, so it can be put in the team first aid kit in case of emergency.

Contact Details

The player and parent contact details are used for emergency contact reasons, as well as general team and club communication, so it's important that the club has the correct details. The club must be informed about any changes to these contact details as soon as possible. To notify the club, email [email protected] in addition to letting the Manager know.

Communication

We expect everyone to respond to messages from managers/the club in a timely manner. Managers may need to find out if players can attend training sessions, matches, friendly matches, tournaments, etc, so will rely on getting quick responses either way from parents/players in order to do this.

Proof of Age

New players must show their proof of age to their Manager so they can check this. Leagues may request to see a player's proof of age (passport or birth certificate), so this must be available upon request. This is usually asked for when registering with a league, or in the first match a player attends in a league (some leagues also do spot-checks).

Kits

All fully-registered subs-paying Ormskirk FC players will be given free use of a match kit and/or a training kit.

If a player leaves the club for any reason, or when the time comes for a team to get new kits, kits need to be handed back to the club in good condition so they can be used as a spare kit for other teams.

If an item of kit is lost or damaged, the parent/player must reimburse the club for the cost of a replacement.

Footwear & Clothing

Players should wear football boots and shin pads to matches and training. Players can wear astroturf trainers or football boots on 3G pitches (boots are recommended when it's wet), but must wear football boots when playing or training on grass.

Parents/players should check the weather forecast before they leave the house and wear the appropriate clothing for the weather conditions. When it’s cold, players can wear under-armour/tights/leggings underneath their shorts, extra layers under their shirts, and gloves/hats.

Drinks

Players should bring a still drink to matches and training (the club recommends water). Fizzy drinks and isotonic drinks are not allowed.

Weather

Teams train and play matches in all weather conditions, so please make sure that players are wrapped up and dressed accordingly. Teams will play and train in the cold, the rain, the wind, etc. It's an outdoor sport and a Winter sport, so be prepared for this.

If managers ever feel that it's not safe to train, they will call training off at their discretion, and the leagues and/or referees will do likewise for matches.

Note that the club doesn't force anyone to come to training sessions or matches, so if you think that the weather isn’t suitable or acceptable for your child to train or play in (or it deteriorates to an unacceptable level during the training session or match), then it's up to the individual parent/player to make a final decision on whether to attend or withdraw their child from the session or match. All we ask is that you let your Manager know as soon as possible about your decision.

Player behaviour

We want our players to have fun and enjoy their football, as that’s what it’s all about.

Unlike at school though, it’s not compulsory for the kids be here. We expect the players in our teams to be here because they want to play football, so that means having a good attitude, working hard, and listening to what they’re being told by their coaches.

The better a player's attitude and the more effort and hard work that they put in (and this includes practising at home too, which is very important), the more they’ll develop as footballers.

During matches, when the kids are having a turn as a substitute and are stood on the sideline, it’s their parent’s responsibility to keep an eye on them and make sure that they're behaving, as the manager will be busy concentrating on the match.

Photography and Video

From the FA Photography Guidelines document:

There has been much talk about who is allowed to take pictures of children (under 18s) playing sport and in particular what parents/carers are permitted to do. The FA would like to assure parents, carers, coaches, spectators, players and local media that we encourage the taking of appropriate images of children in football.
The FA: Celebrating Football Through Photographs and Video

By registering with the club, you agree to giving the club permission to take photographs and/or videos of players at matches, training sessions, and at club events. These will be used on the club's website & social media accounts, club promotional purposes, or as a coaching aid. The club will adhere to the FA Photography Guidelines when publishing photographs or videos in the public domain.

Here are some examples of the sort of photographs the club will publish:

Helping out

Our managers and coaches are volunteers. Without them, we wouldn't have teams. It helps ease the burden on them if parents can help them out on match day and training sessions by helping to setup and take down goals and nets, helping to unpack or pack away equipment, and helping to referee matches if the match officials don't turn up (which happens from time to time).

Team Group Chats

If teams use group chats for their team communication (WhatsApp, Facebook Groups, etc), then the managers and parents need to make sure that the group chats are only used for communication on team matters (e.g. training and match information), and not used as a general chatroom, as this can be an annoyance to others.

It is against club rules for anyone to be posting anything negative in the group chats about the team, manager, coaches, the players, the club, other parents parents, referees, leagues, or other clubs. Please keep these group chats professional and responsible. They are not the place to air grievances or to ask passive aggressive questions to the Manager, so please don't use them for this.

Please avoid posting on group chats late at night (after 9pm) as not everyone will remember to mute their notifications and alerts at night and we don't want to disturb people. If using WhatsApp, the club recommends that Managers use one-way Broadcast Lists instead of Group Chats - these allow Managers to send a message to a group of people, but it's one-way so the replies come back directly to the Manager. If doing this, note that the recipients must have your number saved to their contacts in order for messages to get through.

Note that team group chats are not the responsibility of the club to monitor and manage, as the members of these group chats should be consenting and responsible adults. If anyone is causing issues on group chats, they will be removed from the group chat and may be asked to leave the club in a worse case scenario.

Leaving the Club

If a player leaves our club for any reason, that's fine and we wish them well. However, they will have to make sure they're up-to-date with their subs at the time of leaving, and they must hand all their match and training kits back in good condition (and hand back anything from the club which they might have, if anything, e.g. player of the match trophies, captain's armbands, etc). If any players leave the club owing money or kit, then their details will be passed to the County FA, who in turn, will block the player from registering for another club until the debt has been settled. We don't like doing this so this will be a last resort after we've given this person every opportunity to settle what they owe.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have any questions about anything not included here, please check out our FAQs page.