CLUB STATEMENT | Social Media Code

At Doncaster Rugby League Club, we appreciate the importance of using social media to communicate directly with our fans and engage with them both domestically and internationally.

Social media provides a platform for us to share our stories, hear your stories and start conversations with people regardless of their location and we want our fans to be able to engage with us and each other in a safe, respectful and positive environment.

Whilst the positives of social media cannot be questioned, unfortunately social media platforms often reward anti-social behaviour and individuals who make negative derogatory comments are often rewarded through likes, shares, retweets.  Doncaster RLFC has a zero-tolerance policy on harassment, racism, homophobia, bullying, abuse, hate speech, discrimination of any kind on our social channels and those participating in any of the aforementioned actions are not welcome in our online community.

The Doncaster RLFC social media code sets clear guidance on what is acceptable when engaging with us, our players, our backroom staff and fellow fans. It also sets boundaries as to what will not be tolerated. This is a team effort, and we would like all of our fans to support us in our mission to create a welcoming, safe and inclusive online environment for all.

Our official social media channels include, but are not limited to:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

Supporter guidance

We endeavour to create a safe online environment across our social media channels and we ask that fans back our commitment by reflecting our values and belief when engaging with us and each other online.

A commitment from us to you

Although we believe that social media companies must do what they can to stop hateful, abusive and discriminatory content appearing on their platforms, we will take the appropriate action to keep our players, staff, and supporters safe.

Doncaster RLFC has a dedicated team regularly monitoring comments posted on our social media channels and comments received through direct messaging. We will delete posts which breach our social media guidelines, and block users that violate our policy.

We take an active approach in dealing with comments and messages that go against our policy, but due to the level of posts on our channels, there may be occasions where they are spotted by you before us.

We will not allow any form of abuse or discrimination including: 

• Hateful, abusive and offensive language
• Harassment of any kind
• Racism
• Homophobia
• Sexism
• Religion
• Incitement to violence

Your commitment to us

Block users and report incidents to social media platforms

You can block any user that is causing you harm or distress. If you come across any abusive, hateful, or discriminatory comments online, we advise that you report this directly to the respective social media platform where the incident was witnessed. 

Each platform has its own procedure when reporting, and we would advise you follow their processes. You can learn more about reporting directly on each platform here:

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

YouTube

Report incidents to Doncaster RLFC 

If you have witnessed something which you believe violates our community guidelines, you can report this to the club at supporterservices@clubdoncaster.co.uk.

To help speed up the process and support our investigations please provide the following:

• A screenshot of the content being reported
• The date and time it was posted
• The username of the person you are reporting
• A link to the original post from Doncaster RLFC, where the comment was left

We will investigate these complaints on an individual basis before deciding appropriate courses of action. Examples of action being taken could include, but is not limited to:

• Removing posts, comments and messages
• Blocking perpetrators from our social media channels
• Reporting the account/user/comment to the relevant social media platforms.

The decision on whether to take action will remain at the discretion of Doncaster RLFC. Any decision not to take action does not in anyway condone the content under complaint.

All reports will remain confidential and anonymous, and each report will be investigated on an individual basis. We will acknowledge your report, and we will make contact with you should we require anymore information. Every report is important to us, and we will investigate each one. Please note that it will not always be possible to provide an outcome, but this does now mean that we have not investigated nor acted on the report.

While we would advise against engaging with any offensive or abusive posts, we would suggest keeping record or any comments or messages of this nature. You can keep track of online abuse by taking a screenshot of the comment and/or message. Ensure you include the author’s username as well as the time and date of posting. 

You can do this on your smartphone, tablet, laptop or computer. Keeping a record helps if you decide to report this further down the line.

Where necessary, we will help the authorities/Police should they wish to act on any reports made by ourselves or our online community in relation to behaviour which falls below our standards set.

Report crimes to the Police

If you feel that you have been the victim of or have witnessed a crime on social media, you should report this to the police.

If you are unsure whether you feel you have been subject to harassment then the Citizens Advice have provided this useful guide Harassment - Citizens Advice