1     Why Are You Seeing This Privacy Notice?

At World Rugby, we believe that fans of rugby union are the greatest fans in the world and we want to ensure that you have the best experience possible while at the same time ensuring that your personal data is protected and that you are safeguarded from harm.

We have developed this Privacy Notice to illustrate our commitment to the protection of the privacy and personal information of fans who create and use a World Rugby Fan Account.

This Privacy Notice outlines all relevant information regarding how we collect and process your personal data in relation to the creation, use and maintenance of your World Rugby Fan Account. You can then determine if you are happy for World Rugby to use your personal data as outlined in this Privacy Notice.

2     World Rugby Fan Account

The creation and use of your World Rugby Fan Account is via the enablement of World Rugby’s single sign-on service (SSO) – a user authorisation and identification service. This means that once you have registered for and signed in to your World Rugby Fan Account, you will be able to use your account across many of the World Rugby websites and platforms that use SSO (as identified below) without having to create a new account or register again.

In other words, your World Rugby Fan Account gives you a single account that provides you with access to the best platforms and digital services in rugby.

3     World Rugby

When we refer to “World Rugby”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this Privacy Notice, we are referring to World Rugby, the world governing body of the sport of rugby union, and its group of operating companies, which include:

• World Rugby Limited
• World Rugby Tournaments Limited
• World Rugby Events DAC
• Rugbypass Limited

4     Purpose of this Privacy Notice

The purpose of this Privacy Notice is to provide fans with a clear understanding of the following in relation to the creation, use and maintenance of your World Rugby Fan Account:

• the types and categories of your personal information that we collect;
• why we collect your personal information and where we collect it from;
• how and why we use your personal information;
• who we may share or disclose your personal information with and why;
• how we uphold your data protection rights;
• how you can obtain further information on our use of your personal information;
• other details relevant to how we give effect to the privacy of individuals.

5     Who is This Privacy Notice For?

This Privacy Notice is for all rugby fans who have created and are using a World Rugby Fan Account for use across the World Rugby digital services (websites and platforms). The World Rugby digital services that can be used in connection with the Fan Account include:

• World Rugby websites that use the single sign-on service (as outlined below)
• World Rugby owned mobile phone applications that use the single sign-on service (as outlined below)
• From time to time, your Fan Account may also be enabled across certain carefully selected third party websites or platforms. For example, you will be required to create and use a Fan Account in order to purchase tickets for Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 via the official Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 ticket website - a third party website operated by the organiser of Rugby World Cup 2025.

World Rugby Websites and Apps

You may be able to create or login to your World Rugby Fan Account from the various World Rugby websites and apps listed below:

• www.worldrugby.com - Click here for the Privacy Notice
• www.rugbyworldcup.com – Click here for the Privacy Notice
• www.rugbypasstv.com - Click here for the Privacy Notice
• www.rugbypass.com - Click here for the Privacy Notice
• The Rugby World Cup App

Please note that each of the above websites and apps may collect or process different types of your information based on your interactions with the relevant websites and/or apps. Such information may be collected or processed when visiting such websites or platforms whether or not you have signed in to your Fan Account. This is further detailed in the privacy policies and cookies policies of each of the relevant websites and platforms. You are encouraged to consult the relevant policies for each website and platform to understand, in more detail, the information collected from you on each website and how it is processed by World Rugby.

Websites for Products and Ticket Purchases

From time to time, you may purchase products or tickets related to World Rugby or World Rugby tournaments or matches. If you purchase products or tickets via a third party website or platform, you will be required to follow the process provided on that third party platform. In some instances, you may be able to purchase products or tickets via or using your World Rugby Fan Account. For example, you will need to create and sign-in to your World Rugby Fan Account in order to purchase tickets for the Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 via the third party official ticket website for the Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025.

Please be informed that, in each case, there will be a separate privacy policy (and additional terms) specific to the website or platform where you purchase the relevant products or tickets which provides you with important information and details about how your personal information is collected and processed in relation to such purchases. You are encouraged to consult the relevant privacy policy (and any additional terms) of that product/ticketing website or platform prior to making a purchase to ensure you fully understand how your personal information is being collected and processed in relation to such purchase.  

6     Types of Personal Data We Collect and How We Use It

World Rugby’s ultimate goal is to continue to develop the sport of Rugby Union across the globe, bringing the sport and all of its benefits to new communities while safeguarding its longevity in others. To help World Rugby achieve this goal, we aim to deliver the best possible digital services (websites and apps) which are easy to access and deliver the content that’s most interesting to you (our fans!).

To enable this, we aim to understand our fans and do so by lawfully collecting data, when you create and use your World Rugby Fan Account, about your interactions with us and use it to generate insights into our fans. This allows us to gain important knowledge necessary to improve our products and services.

We also use your information to provide you with an easily accessible and secure Fan Account, with content and information appropriate to your age and to service and fulfil any products or services you may purchase or engage with via your Fan Account.

If you give us your consent, we will track your activity across our digital services (websites and platforms) and build a profile based on some of the information you have provided us, as well as the preferences you have provided. This allows us to identify which World Rugby products and services you and other fans interact with the most and allows us to identify areas where we need to improve our services and offerings. 

Creation and Use of Fan Account

By way of general information, the following personal information may be collected or required from you in relation to your creation, use and maintenance of your World Rugby Fan Account:

• Login and account creation data
• First & Second name
• Email address
• Location details
• Date of birth
• Account password
• Marketing permissions and consent approvals
• Fan/user preferences such as favourite team and other personal preferences you may provide;
• Automatically collected electronic network activity information, such as Internet Protocol (“IP”) Address, device type or mobile carrier, browser type or operating system, etc.

Uses

In general, you can visit World Rugby websites without registering for or signing into a Fan Account and without actively providing personal information, yet we may still collect aggregated and anonymised statistical data about your visits and activity.

However, to avail of certain functionalities and services, you will be required to create a World Rugby Fan Account. In order to create a World Rugby Fan Account, you will need to provide us with personal information. We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

• To enable you to create a Fan Account or profile with us or to subscribe to our newsletter(s) or mailing list(s);
• To respond to your enquiries or otherwise correspond with you;
• To provide you with content via your Fan Account and to continuously improve the performance of such platforms and channels;
• To enable you to participate in certain activities, facilities or services available via your Fan Account (such as competitions, score/match predictors, fantasy rugby games, etc.);
• To give effect to any preferences you share with us within your Fan Account or that we observe from your use of the Fan Account, so that we can make information which most interests you available to you;
• to track your activity within the Fan Account (including how it relates to other World Rugby digital services);
• to send information to you about World Rugby and its activities which you have requested.

In addition to the recipients outlined at Section 10 (Disclosure of Your Data) below, we may share your personal information with companies, organisations or individuals in one or more of the following situations:

• World Rugby may share your personal information with other World Rugby entities (see list outlined above in Section 3) (and with the organisers of any Rugby World Cup tournament), where you have requested that we do so and/or where it is necessary in order to provide you with information or fulfil services or products that you have requested (e.g. in relation to tickets for Rugby World Cup tournaments); 
• We may also share your information with tournament partners in their capacity as either joint controllers or independent controllers, including for ticketing purchases and services, hospitality packages and services, transportation requirements, etc. For Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025, personal data that may be required from you via your Fan Account in order to purchase tickets or ticketed products may be shared with Rugby World Cup (England 2025) Limited (“RWC”), the local operating company authorised by World Rugby to organise and operate Rugby World Cup England 2025, for processing activities directly related to the administration, management, servicing and fulfilment of your tickets or ticketed products. RWC will process your information in accordance with the RWC Privacy Policy;

• Certain associated organisations, where you have consented to us doing so. The associated organisations to which, with your permission (in both cases), we will release your personal information are limited to: 
• Member Unions of World Rugby;
• Our marketing, broadcast and other commercial partners and sponsors

• Certain activities which may be available via the Fan Account (such as competitions or fantasy rugby games) may involve the sharing of some of your personal data (as noted above) with other individuals participating in that activity (e.g. where you enter into a fantasy rugby game league) with other players. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7     Our Lawful Basis for Processing Your Personal Data

The table below describes the main purposes for which we process your personal information, the categories of your information involved and our lawful basis for being able to do so. For the purposes of this Privacy Notice, please note that the purposes and lawful basis set out below apply equally if you are a child or an adult. For information regarding the ability of children or minors to access and use a Fan Account), please consult the Fan Account Terms of Use.  

Purpose	Personal Information Used	Lawful Basis
Create, manage and administer your World Rugby Fan Account.	Name, date of birth, email address, account password  and supporting union.	This is necessary to enable us to properly manage and administer your agreement with us to set-up an account profile on our platform. We also rely on legitimate interest and consent for processing other data elements that are listed here. All may be used in part for the administration of accounts but also for other purposes that have been listed below.
To manage our relationship and communications with you, and provide you access to information you request via your Fan Account	All contact and account profile details that you have chosen to provide (your name, involvement in Rugby, age, country of residence, country supported, nationality, gender, your geographical location and/or your confirmation that you have read and agree with the Terms and Conditions applicable to the Fan Account), your professional details (where appropriate to elements of our digital platforms such as the Media Zone) records of your interactions with us, products or services you have purchased, fan preferences, marketing preferences	We rely on your consent or our legitimate interest to process your personal data in order to maintain our relationship with you and provide you with necessary information.
To send you marketing information we think you might find useful or which you have requested from us, including news items, information about events, volunteering and/or tickets and information about our commercial partners.	All contact and account profile details and marketing preferences.	Where you have given us your explicit consent to do so.
To allow you to participate in competitions, games, surveys and other activities, facilities or services available via your Fan Account	All contact and account profile details, together with any other personal information you submit as part of your participation in the relevant competition, game, surveys or other services or activities (such as your answers to competition questions, your predictions as to the score of a match or your team selection and points in a fantasy rugby game)	This is necessary to enable us to properly manage and administer your requested participation in the relevant competition, game or other service.
To answer your queries, complaints or other correspondence with you. We have a legitimate interest to provide complaint handling services to you	Contact details and records of your interactions with us.	We have a legitimate interest in providing you with a complaint handling service and otherwise responding to your queries.

8     Cookies

As outlined above, you will be able to use your Fan Account across many World Rugby websites and platforms that use SSO. World Rugby websites and platforms use cookies to help World Rugby to provide you with the very best experience when you use World Rugby websites and platforms. World Rugby is required to request your consent to use cookies on each website or platform.

Cookies are specific to each of the different World Rugby websites and platforms and will differ depending on which websites or platforms you visit. Please be aware that cookies will be used by such websites or platforms whether or not you are signed into or using your Fan Account – provided, of course, that you have consented to our use of cookies. As such, you are encouraged to consult the cookies policy of each of the World Rugby websites and platforms that you visit to understand which cookies are being used on the relevant website or platform and how you can accept, reject or manage cookies via the relevant website or platform.

9     Right to Withdraw Consent, Performing Contracts and Deletion

If you have given us your consent to anything we do with your personal data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, although if you do so, it does not mean that anything we have done with your personal data with your consent up to that point is unlawful.

This includes your right to withdraw consent to us using your personal data for marketing purposes. You may withdraw your consent to receiving marketing communications from us by using the manage preferences function (if available) within your Fan Account, by contacting us using the details below, or by using the “unsubscribe” option available to you within each communication. 

In circumstances indicated above, we may also process your personal data for the purposes of performing a contract with you (e.g. in relation to your performance or attendance at one of our tournaments or events, fulfilment of tickets, or to you accessing features via your Fan Account). Our ability to perform such contracts is depending on your providing such information. Failure on your part to provide the personal data which we have requested (or subsequently you requesting to delete such personal data) in these circumstances will result in the contract being rendered impossible - with the potential consequences, for example, that you will not be able to participate in the relevant tournament or event, attend any such tournament or event in any capacity, or access a system to which you are seeking access (including your Fan Account).

If you want to delete your personal data or your Fan Account, this function may be available within your Fan Account or by contacting dataprotection@worldrugby.org with your deletion request. If you do wish to delete your account, your personal data will be removed (subject to the below) from our systems and partner systems once the process has completed. However, please see below section for important information regarding the deletion of your personal data or Fan Account.

Where you have requested to have your personal data or your Fan Account deleted, please note that we may need to maintain information (including personal data) about you in certain circumstances, including to fulfil our legal obligations and to fulfil certain services and/or products or contracts that you have previously requested from us. By way of example, if you have purchased products, services or tickets, including in relation to or for a World Rugby tournament or match, via your World Rugby Fan Account, we may not be able to delete your account or relevant personal data as certain information would still be required to ensure that you can access your products, services or tickets and attend the relevant tournament or match.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.

10   Disclosures of Your Data

In addition to the specific disclosures of your data set out in Section 5 above, we will need to share or provide access to your personal information with carefully selected third parties in the following circumstances:

• Third party service or functionality providers acting on our behalf and instructions, including technical IT services providers to provide maintenance, administrative or technical support for our systems and platforms, your Fan Account and the single sign-on service (SSO). This may include:

• software publishers and hosts;
• IT platform development services (include SSO services);
• hosting services;
• customer relationship management platforms (CRM) and other such data management platforms;
• communication services and applications (including service emails, marketing newsletters, push notifications, advertisement providers/exchanges);
• analytics and measurement software/platforms email and push notification communication services, internet services on which we publish our advertisements.

The above service providers are not authorised to use or disclose personal information except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements.

• Where we need to share your personal data to provide a product or service you have requested;
• Where relevant, we may share your personal information with a Member Union or Regional Association or tournament organiser in connection with combined regulatory activities undertaken by us and such other organisation;
• Commercial partners of World Rugby provided you have agreed to receive marketing communications directly from such partner(s). In such circumstances, your personal information will be processed in accordance with the privacy policy of the relevant commercial partner, which we encourage you to consult;
• We may also share your personal information with third parties:
• when required by law or in response to legal process;
• in response to a request from law enforcement relating to a criminal investigation;
• to protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, or that of the public;
• to analyse our data, conduct mobile analytics services or to maintain and improve our services (subject to confidentiality agreements as appropriate);
• to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit damage that we may sustain;
• if the rights or safety of another individual might be violated or in threat; and
• where you otherwise consent to us doing so.

11   Marketing and Consents

We will ask for your preferences and consent to sending you marketing information we think you might find useful or which you have requested from us, including our news items, announcements, information about events, volunteering and/or tickets and information about our commercial partners. We will only send you marketing information where you have requested, and provided your consent, for us to do so. Our lawful basis for such marketing information is your consent.

Your right to withdraw consent also relates to our use of your personal data for marketing purposes. You may withdraw your consent to receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us using the details below in the Contact Details section or by using the “Unsubscribe” option available to you in each communication.

Please note that if you have opted in and consented to receive any information from our associated organisations, third parties or our partners and you wish to unsubscribe from their marketing or communications, you will need to contact those third party organisations directly or use the “Unsubscribe” option available to you in their communications.

12   Improving the Fan Account and Fan Experience

We may use the data (including personal data) we collect about you via your Fan Account to improve and personalise our products and services so that you have an improved fan experience when using your Fan Account, including by showing and communicating with you about more relevant content and information about our products, services and tournaments.

We analyse the data we collect via our Fan Account to identify common characteristics and preferences to provide you with communications, products and information that may be most important to you. We do this in accordance with our legitimate interest to understand and assess such information including behaviour, Fan Account activity or demographic information (such as age profiles or location) to improve the Fan Account service, functionalities and experience.

We also carry out proportionate research and analysis on your data collected via the Fan Account, to determine the success of campaigns and communications, better understand behaviour and responses and identify patterns and trends. This helps better inform our approach and pursue our overall objective and our legitimate interest in providing the ultimate digital service and fan experience via the Fan Account to help grow the game of rugby.

Where you have provided your consent to the provision of personal information, we profile our fans on the basis of various criteria including their interests, general geographic location, Fan Account activity and socioeconomic and age groups. We also use aggregated, anonymised lifestyle data obtained from third parties to supplement our profiles. This information helps us to ensure we are providing products, functionalities and services that may be of interest to you. We also use data provided by you during your interactions with us to assess our fan population, generate insights and improve users’ interactions with your Fan Account. This is done by aggregating your data with that of other fans to generate insights that will enable us to improve our interactions with you and our services. The aggregation is not done on an individual basis or using any information that can directly identify you, such as your name, but does use some demographic information (e.g. gender, age range, address) if such information has been provided to us by you. In general, we are relying on our legitimate interest to improve the Fan Account, interactions and our services to aggregate this data and generate insights. You may object to this legitimate interest based processing at any time by emailing your objection to dataprotection@worldrugby.com or contacting us using the address contact details in the “Contact” section below.

13   International transfers of your data

We shall work to ensure that your personal information that you submit, we collect and/or that we process shall be protected from the risks of unauthorized access or disclosure by putting in place appropriate technical and organizational measures, including in accordance with applicable data protection or data privacy laws.

In some of the circumstances described above, your personal data may be transferred, accessible or visible to individuals and/or entities located outside of the European Union. Countries outside the European Union may not provide a level of legal protection for your information as strong as the level of protection provided in Ireland or your home country. Where we transfer your personal data to a recipient based outside the European Union, we will put in place a data transfer agreement with the overseas recipient of the information, protecting the information, in the appropriate standard form approved for this purpose by the European Commission (please contact us if you would like to see a copy of any of these agreements). The only exceptions are where we transfer information to member states of the European Economic Area or to countries outside the European Union which have been determined to provide an adequate level of protection by the European Commission, or where the transfer is legally justified on another basis.

14   How Long Do We Retain Your Information?

We only keep your personal data for the minimum period of time to reasonably allow us to fulfil the purposes for which we originally collected it or you provided it. By creating and maintaining a World Rugby Fan Account, you are creating and maintaining a digital identity or profile with World Rugby. For as long as you maintain your World Rugby Fan Account, we will continue to retain the information we hold or process about you. When you delete or request the deletion of your Fan Account, your account and all of your information will be deleted, except as outlined below. When your account has been inactive for an extended period of time, your account will also be deleted (in accordance with our retention policies).

Please note that we may need to maintain information about you in certain circumstances, including to fulfil certain services, contracts and/or products that you have previously requested from us.

By way of example, if you have purchased tickets or ticketed products for a World Rugby tournament or match via your World Rugby Fan Account, we may not be able to delete your account as this would still be required to ensure you can access your tickets and attend the relevant tournament or match.

The duration for which we retain your personal information will differ depending on: the type of information and the reason why we collected it from you. We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for and including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we take into account the following considerations and criteria:

• the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data;
• the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data;
• the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means;
• our contractual obligations and rights in relation to the personal data involved; and
• applicable legal requirements (including prescribed retention periods and statutes of limitations).

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.

15   Your Rights to Access, Correct, Modify and/or Remove Your Personal Information

In addition to your right to withdraw consent referenced in the above section entitled “Right to Withdraw Consent, Performing Contracts and Deletion”, you have the following rights as applicable under applicable data protection law:

• the right to receive a copy of and/or access, correct, and/or modify the personal data that we hold about you, together with other information about our processing of that personal data (i.e. you have a right to be informed about our processing of your personal data);
• the right to request that any inaccurate data that is held about you is corrected or rectified, or if we have incomplete information you may request that we update the information such that it is complete and accurate;
• the right to request that we erase your personal data or restrict the processing of your personal data;
• the right to request that we no longer process your personal data for particular purposes,
• the right to object to our use or processing of your personal data or the way in which we process it;
• the right to data portability;
• Right not to be subject to automated decision-making or profiling; You have a right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing or profiling, where such decisions would have a legal effect or significant impact on you. Where we (or one of our third-party processors) use profiling, which produces legal effects for you or otherwise significantly affects you, you will have the right to object to such processing.

Your ability to exercise any of the above rights may be restricted or subject to specific conditions depending on certain circumstances. 

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or your World Rugby Fan Account or your dealings with World Rugby, you can contact us at the contact details set out below.

16   Contact Details

World Rugby has appointed a data protection officer, Liam McKenna, to underpin its commitment to privacy. If have any queries in relation to this Privacy Notice or your Fan Account, or if you would like to contact World Rugby in relation to your rights, please write to us at dataprotection@worldrugby.org or Data Protection Officer, World Rugby House, 8 – 10 Lower Pembroke Street, Dublin 2.

You can contact our Data Protection Officer by emailing dataprotection@worldrugby.org

17   Complaints

If you are not happy with the way that we have used your information or addressed your rights, you have the right to make a complaint to the Irish Data Protection Commission as our lead supervisory authority by using the following link: https://forms.dataprotection.ie/contact.

18   Changes to this Privacy Notice

We reserve the right to change and/or update this Privacy Notice at any time. In such circumstances, we will publish the amended or updated Privacy Notice via your Fan Account. We will also notify relevant data subjects of any material changes that may impact them. We therefore recommend that you check your Fan Account periodically in order to review the most updated version(s) of our Privacy Notice and any changes that may have been made to it.

This Privacy Notice was last updated on September 17, 2024.