GOWL – Privacy Policy

Website: https://gowl.mt
Effective date: 10 November 2026
Last updated: 10 November 2026
Data Controller: gowl.mt
Contact email: dalliryan@gmail.com

1. Introduction

GOWL ("we", "our" or "us") is an online platform designed to help grassroots youth football coaches and authorised team officials in Malta and Gozo connect with other teams, arrange friendly matches and organise football festivals.

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, disclose and protect personal data when you access or use GOWL.

We process personal data in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, including:

The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR).
The Maltese Data Protection Act (Chapter 586 of the Laws of Malta).
Other applicable data protection legislation.

By using GOWL, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy.

2. Who is responsible for your data?

The data controller responsible for processing your personal data is:

GOWL

Legal name: gowl.mt
Email: dalliryan@gmail.com
Website: https://gowl.mt

The data controller determines how and why personal data is processed through the Platform.

For any questions relating to this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal data, you may contact us using the details above.

3. Personal information we collect

We collect only the information necessary to provide, maintain and improve the GOWL platform.

3.1 Account information

When you register an account, we may collect:

Full name.
Display name.
Email address.
Coaching role.
Associated football club.
Preferred language, where applicable.
Phone number, if voluntarily provided.
Password, stored in securely hashed form.

3.2 Club and team information

To facilitate the arrangement of football matches, we may collect information relating to clubs and teams, including:

Club name and association.
Team name.
Team birth year or age group.
General playing level (High, Medium or Low).
Preferred match format.
Preferred playing days and times.
Home locality.
Team availability and hosting preferences.
Team management and co-manager permissions.

GOWL does not provide individual player accounts or request individual player profiles.

Important: Coaches must not enter children's names, individual dates of birth, photographs, contact details, medical information or other identifying personal information into the Platform.

Although GOWL is designed to avoid collecting directly identifying information about children, general team information may still relate indirectly to groups of children. We therefore handle such information carefully.

3.3 Match and availability information

When using GOWL to arrange friendly matches, we may collect and store:

Published availability slots.
Match requests and responses.
Confirmed match dates and times.
Proposed changes to matches.
Match venues and grounds.
Cancellation reasons.
Match completion status.
Privately submitted no-show reports and related disputes.

This information is used to manage bookings, prevent scheduling conflicts and maintain an accurate match history.

3.4 Festival information

When using the festival functionality, we may collect:

Festival names and descriptions.
Event dates and locations.
Participating club and team information.
Registration and approval status.
Waiting list information.
Match schedules and pitch allocations.
Event-related communications.

3.5 Communications and reports

When using the Platform's communication features, we may process:

Messages exchanged between registered coaches.
Messages relating to match arrangements.
Reports submitted against other users.
Information provided when disputing a report.
Notifications and communication preferences.

This information helps us provide communication functionality, investigate complaints and enforce our Terms of Use.

3.6 Technical and security information

We may collect technical information necessary to operate and protect the Platform, including:

Login and session information.
Authentication records.
IP addresses, where collected by our infrastructure.
Security and activity logs.
Rate-limiting and abuse-prevention records.
Information about technical errors and system activity.
Device and browser information where necessary for security and functionality.

We do not intentionally include message content or private contact details in security logs.

4. How and why we use your personal data

We process personal data for the following purposes.

Purpose	Legal basis
Creating and managing your account	Performance of a contract – Article 6(1)(b) GDPR
Managing clubs and teams	Performance of a contract – Article 6(1)(b) GDPR
Finding compatible opponents	Performance of a contract – Article 6(1)(b) GDPR
Managing match requests and bookings	Performance of a contract – Article 6(1)(b) GDPR
Managing festivals and registrations	Performance of a contract – Article 6(1)(b) GDPR
Sending service-related notifications	Performance of a contract – Article 6(1)(b) GDPR
Preventing misuse, fraud and abuse	Legitimate interests – Article 6(1)(f) GDPR
Reviewing complaints and reports	Legitimate interests – Article 6(1)(f) GDPR
Maintaining security and audit records	Legitimate interests – Article 6(1)(f) GDPR
Meeting legal obligations	Legal obligation – Article 6(1)(c) GDPR
Optional public profile visibility	Consent – Article 6(1)(a) GDPR, where applicable

Where processing is based on legitimate interests, we consider our interests against your rights and freedoms.

Where consent is required, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

GOWL provides privacy controls allowing users to manage the visibility of their information.

5.1 Private profiles

User profiles are private by default.

Your profile information is not automatically made publicly accessible simply because you register an account.

5.2 Public profile visibility

If you choose to make your profile public, certain information may become visible to other users or visitors, depending on the visibility settings available on the Platform.

This may include:

Display name.
Associated club.
Team information.
General location.

Your email address and phone number are not displayed publicly.

You may change your profile visibility settings at any time.

5.3 Availability visibility

Availability visibility is managed separately from profile visibility.

Your availability may be visible to registered coaches to facilitate the discovery and arrangement of friendly matches.

Where public availability visibility is supported, you may choose whether to enable it through the relevant settings.

Changing your profile visibility does not automatically change your availability visibility.

5.4 Email addresses and phone numbers

Your email address and phone number are not publicly displayed.

Where supported, you may choose whether to make your contact details visible to other registered coaches through your account settings.

You are responsible for reviewing your privacy settings before enabling optional contact-sharing functionality.

5.5 Other coaches and clubs

Certain information must be shared with other registered coaches to provide the core functionality of GOWL.

For example, when arranging a friendly match, relevant team, availability and booking information may be shared with the other coach.

Your information is shared only to the extent reasonably necessary to operate the relevant Platform functionality.

6. Who can access your information?

Your personal information may be accessed by:

Other registered coaches

Coaches may access information made available through your profile, team availability, match requests and other relevant Platform functionality, subject to your privacy settings.

GOWL administrators

Authorised administrators may access relevant information to:

Manage user accounts.
Investigate reports and complaints.
Resolve duplicate club or ground records.
Review no-show disputes.
Maintain platform security.
Investigate misuse of the Platform.
Respond to legitimate data access or deletion requests.

Administrative access should be limited to what is necessary for the relevant task.

Technical service providers

We may share information with trusted third-party providers who support the operation of GOWL, such as hosting, database, email delivery and infrastructure providers.

These providers may process personal data on our behalf and are required to implement appropriate safeguards and contractual protections.

GOWL does not sell personal information to third parties.

We do not use personal information for third-party advertising.

We may disclose personal information where:

It is necessary to provide the services requested by you.
A service provider requires access to perform its contractual duties.
Disclosure is necessary to protect the security of GOWL or its users.
We are legally required to disclose information.
Disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Where appropriate, we take steps to ensure that any disclosure is limited to the information necessary for the relevant purpose.

8. Data retention

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

Our intended retention periods are as follows:

Data type	Retention period
Active account information	While the account remains active
Deactivated account information	Until reactivation or a deletion request, subject to applicable retention requirements
Match and booking records	As necessary to maintain accurate match history and resolve disputes
Messages	While necessary to provide the communication service and address relevant reports or disputes
No-show reports and disputes	As necessary for moderation and dispute handling
Session records	Up to 30 days
Password reset links	Up to 1 hour
Email verification links	Up to 48 hours

8.1 Account deletion

You may request deletion of your account through the available account settings or by contacting us.

We aim to process valid deletion requests within 30 days.

Following a deletion request:

Personal information will be erased or anonymised where appropriate.
Information no longer required for the operation of GOWL will be deleted.
Certain records may be retained where required by law or necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Match history may be retained in an appropriately anonymised or otherwise lawful form to preserve the accuracy of historical records and other users' records.

We will not retain personal data indefinitely simply because it was previously associated with an account.

9. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against:

Unauthorised access.
Accidental loss or destruction.
Unauthorised alteration.
Disclosure.
Misuse.

Security measures may include:

Secure authentication mechanisms.
Password hashing.
Access restrictions.
Administrative permission controls.
Secure communication protocols.
Monitoring of suspicious activity.
Appropriate infrastructure and database security measures.

No online service can guarantee absolute security.

If we become aware of a personal data breach, we will assess the incident and take appropriate action in accordance with applicable data protection legislation, including notifying the relevant supervisory authority and affected individuals where legally required.

10. International data transfers

Some of our technical service providers may process or store information outside Malta or the European Economic Area (EEA).

Where personal data is transferred outside the EEA, we will ensure that the transfer is carried out in accordance with GDPR requirements.

Depending on the circumstances, safeguards may include:

An adequacy decision issued by the European Commission.
Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs).
Additional technical and organisational safeguards where necessary.

Further information about our service providers and relevant transfer safeguards may be requested by contacting us.

11. Cookies and similar technologies

GOWL uses cookies and similar technologies where necessary to operate the Platform.

11.1 Strictly necessary cookies

We may use strictly necessary cookies to:

Keep users signed in.
Maintain authentication sessions.
Protect account security.
Support essential Platform functionality.

These cookies are required for the operation of the service.

11.2 Analytics and advertising cookies

With your consent, GOWL uses Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager (both provided by Google Ireland Limited), to understand how the Platform is used — for example which pages are visited, roughly where visitors come from and what device or browser they use — so that we can improve it.

Analytics cookies are only set if you choose Accept analytics in the cookie banner. Until then, and if you choose Essential only, analytics cookies are not stored on your device.
You can change your choice at any time using Cookie settings at the bottom of the page (or in the More menu on mobile).
We do not use advertising cookies, and analytics data is not used to identify children or for advertising.
Your cookie choice itself is remembered in your browser's local storage.

Google may process this data outside the European Economic Area; such transfers are protected by the safeguards described in Section 10.

12. Your data protection rights

Under the GDPR, you may have the following rights regarding your personal information:

Right of access

You may request confirmation of whether we process your personal information and obtain a copy of that information.

Right to rectification

You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal information.

Right to erasure

You may request deletion of your personal information where the legal conditions for erasure are met.

Right to restriction

You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

Right to data portability

Where applicable, you may request a copy of personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.

Right to object

You may object to processing based on legitimate interests in certain circumstances.

Right to withdraw consent

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

Right to lodge a complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you believe that your personal information has been processed unlawfully.

You may exercise these rights by using the relevant account settings or contacting us at:

dalliryan@gmail.com

We will respond to requests in accordance with applicable legal timeframes. We may need to verify your identity before processing certain requests.

13. Children's privacy

GOWL is designed exclusively for adult coaches and authorised team officials.

Individuals under the age of 18 are not permitted to register or use the Platform.

GOWL does not provide player accounts or individual player profiles.

Coaches must not submit children's identifying personal information through the Platform.

Where we become aware that identifying information about a child has been submitted inappropriately, we may take steps to remove that information and address the issue in accordance with applicable law.

14. Third-party websites and services

GOWL may contain links to external websites or rely on third-party services.

These websites and services operate independently and may have their own privacy policies and data protection practices.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of external websites.

We recommend reviewing the relevant privacy policies before providing personal information to third parties.

15. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect:

Changes to the functionality of GOWL.
Changes to the personal information we collect.
Changes to our service providers.
Changes in applicable legislation.
Improvements to our privacy and security practices.

Any updated version will be published on https://gowl.mt with a revised last-updated date.

Where changes materially affect how we process personal information, we will take appropriate steps to inform affected users.

16. Contact and complaints

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data protection rights or have concerns about how your information is handled, please contact us.