FAQ | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy

FAQ

1. What is a trade union?

A trade union is a group of workers who join together to maintain and improve their working conditions. This means having a collective voice in discussions with employers, ensuring fairness across the board and increasing transparency across the workforce. Trade unions also provide services to their members, to support their careers.

2. Who is behind the Women’s Rugby Association (WRA)?

The Women’s Rugby Association was set up by a group of women from a variety of professional backgrounds with the aim of making positive change in elite domestic women’s rugby in England.

The aims, services and operational structure of the Women’s Rugby Association have been crafted with the support of independent advisors, legal counsel and likeminded founding partners who have volunteered their time and resources, to create a body with and for the players.

Until elections can be organised, the WRA will be led by Nolli Waterman (CEO) and directors, Polly Barnes and Emma Lax.

3. How involved are player members in the WRA?

The WRA is administered and run on a daily basis by an Executive Committee, but the ultimate governing body of the WRA is the Players’ Board. The Players’ Board consists of one elected Player Representative from each club in the Premier 15s competition, as well as an elected player Chair and Vice-Chair. The central role of the Players’ Board ensures that player issues, and only player issues, are at the front and centre of the WRA’s priorities.

4. Our independence and why that’s important

The Women’s Rugby Association does not receive funding from the RFU, World Rugby, Premiership Rugby, the Premier 15s competition, nor any of the league’s clubs. We take our independence very seriously, and work with partners from a variety of backgrounds to bring together learnings and best practice across a broad range of industry sectors.

Our independence allows us to operate without conflicts of interest, in the best interests of our members.

5. Who is eligible to be a member of the WRA?

You must be registered with a Premier 15s club and play the majority of your rugby in the Premier 15s league competition.

However, if you are also employed in a senior executive role within professional rugby, you are unfortunately not eligible, due to potential conflicts of interest.

Please email info@womensrugbyassociation.co.uk with any eligibility queries.

6. I am an overseas player, so can I be a member of the WRA?

Yes, as long as you are a Premier 15s club player and meet all of the eligibility criteria above.

7. I am already represented by an association through my international contract. Can I still be a member of the WRA?

Yes, you can. The WRA deals with Premier 15s matters exclusively, and does not cover the dealings between international players and their international team employers.

8. How can I become a member and how long does this process take?

To become a member of the WRA, you will need to complete our online application form.

Once you have submitted your application, we will review it and aim to get back to you within 14 days.

9. How much does it cost and what is my financial contribution used for?

To join the WRA requires a financial contribution. For the first season, the minimum contribution is £5. Each year, you will pay an annual subscription to maintain your membership.

All money collected from members is used to administer the association and deliver member content, such as the Knowledge Series, and we operate on a not-for-profit basis.

If your application for membership is unsuccessful, we will (of course) reimburse any fees you have paid.

10. How do I use the Women’s Rugby Association?

As a member, you are entitled to use the WRA services at any time. When you sign up and are confirmed as a member, you will be sent a welcome pack, detailing the services available to you, how and when to use them, how you can get involved with decision-making and what is planned for the future.

11. How can I get involved if I’m not a player?

If you are a potential partner or collaborator who shares our aims, is independent and can give time, expertise, financial support or sponsorship, please contact info@womensrugbyassociation.co.uk.

Terms & Conditions

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF WRA MEMBERSHIP

Agreement is made between:

  1. The Player, as detailed in the Application Form; and
  2. The Women’s Rugby Association of The HKX Building, 3 Pancras Square, London, N1C 4AG (the “WRA”);
    (together, the “Parties”).

Where it is agreed as follows:

  1. DEFINITIONS
    1. In this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

      An “Appearance” means any appearance at or participation in promotional activities and public relations exercises of the WRA or WRA Partners including (without limitation) Content production sessions, social media activities, corporate hospitality and other events organised or sponsored by the WRA or a WRA Partner, including online or virtual events;

      An “Appearance Fee” means a sum of money to be paid to the Player in respect of an Appearance in such amount as shall be determined from time to time by the Players’ Board acting reasonably on the advice of the Executive Committee;

      The “Application Form” means the form to which these terms and conditions shall be attached, by which the Player makes her application to become a member of the WRA;

      The “Annual Subscription” means the Player’s annual subscription fee to the WRA, the amount of which shall be determined by the Players’ Board from time to time and shall be set out in the Application Form;

      The “Cancellation Period” shall have the meaning given in clause 3.1 of this Agreement;

      A “Club” shall have the meaning given in Rule 1.1;

      The “Commencement Date” means the date on which the Player becomes a member of the WRA, in accordance with clause 2.2 of this Agreement;

      Content” means photographs, films, video recordings, sound recordings, graphical images, literary, artistic, musical or other works of whatever nature (including articles, blogs, vlogs, non-fungible tokens and social media posts) and all other materials in whatever format or medium;

      Image Rights” means those intellectual property rights belonging to the Player relating to her name, likeness, image, signature, logo, catchphrase, fame, notoriety, reputation, nickname(s), initials, social media handles, mannerisms, distinguishing characteristics, voice and any other identifying attributes, such rights arising out of or in connection with personal appearances for the purposes described at clause 4.1 of this Agreement;

      The “Joining Fee” means the fee paid by the Player to join the WRA the amount of which shall be determined by the Players’ Board from time to time and shall be set out in the Application Form;

      The “Player’s Board” shall have the meaning given in the Rules;

      The “Rules” means the Rules of the WRA, a copy of which is available upon request from the WRA, as amended from time to time, and references within this Agreement to “Rules” shall be construed accordingly;

      “Subsidiaries” means any company controlled by the WRA (such as WRA Management Ltd);

      A “WRA Partner” means any individual, organisation, company, corporate entity, charity, or association which has entered into a commercial agreement with the WRA or any of its Subsidiaries.

  2. MEMBERSHIP
    1. Provided that the Player meets the eligibility criteria for membership set out in Rule 5, the Player agrees to become a member of the WRA on the terms set out in this Agreement and in accordance with the Rules. The Player further agrees to be bound by the Rules at all times during their membership. A copy of the Rules shall be provided by the WRA upon request.
    2. Subject to payment of the Joining Fee, the Player’s membership of the WRA shall commence upon written notice to the Player by the Executive Committee of its acceptance of the Player’s application for membership (the “Commencement Date”) and shall continue subject to clause 3.1 of this Agreement and the Rules.
    3. The Player shall pay the Joining Fee to the WRA at the time of submitting the Application Form, by electronic bank transfer. In the event that the Player’s application for membership of the WRA is rejected, the WRA shall refund the Joining Fee to the Player within 30 days of having rejected the application.
    4. The Player shall pay the Annual Subscription to the WRA at the time of submitting the Application Form and, in all subsequent calendar years in which the Player is a member of the WRA, by 31 December each year. In the event that the Player’s application for membership of the WRA is rejected, the WRA shall refund the Annual Subscription to the Player within 30 days of rejecting the application.
  3. TERMINATION
    1. The Player’s membership (i.e. this Agreement) may be terminated (without prejudice to any rights or remedies accrued by either Party as at the date of termination):
      1. by either Party without cause, at any time within 14 days of the Commencement Date (the “Cancellation Period”), by giving written notice to the other Party;
      2. on the expiry of notice of resignation which has been given by the Player in accordance with Rule 5.9;
      3. by the WRA if the Player is no longer eligible for membership under Rules 5.2 and 5.3;
      4. by the WRA if the Player has not paid the Annual Subscription within 26 weeks of it falling due, in accordance with Rule 5.8; or
      5. on the expulsion of the Player in accordance with Rule 22.
    2. Upon termination of this Agreement by either Party within the Cancellation Period, the WRA shall refund the Joining Fee and the Annual Subscription to the Player within 30 days of the written notice of termination.
    3. Subject to clause 3.2 of this Agreement, the Player shall not be entitled to a refund of any sums paid under this Agreement in the event of termination.
  4. IMAGE RIGHTS AND APPEARANCES
    1. During the course of this Agreement, the Player agrees that the WRA and any of its Subsidiaries shall have the non-exclusive right to use and to authorise any individual, organisation, company, corporate entity, charity, or association to use the Player’s Image Rights for advertising, marketing, promotion, publicity or any other lawful purpose, in any and all media, provided that such use utilises the Image Rights of at least two additional players who are also members of the WRA, together or separately, and does not conflict with the Player’s obligations under her employment contract with a Club and/or the Rugby Football Union.
    2. The WRA, or any of its Subsidiaries, shall not authorise any individual, organisation, company, corporate entity, charity, or association to use the Player’s Image Rights under clause 4.1 of this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Player, such consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. However, the WRA shall not be required to obtain the Player’s prior consent to use the Player’s Image Rights where such use is solely for the promotion of the WRA.
    3. From time to time the Player may be invited to perform Appearances for or on behalf of the WRA (or any of its Subsidiaries) and/or WRA Partners, but is under no obligation to accept any such invitation.
    4. In consideration of the rights granted to the WRA and its Subsidiaries under this clause 4, the WRA (or its Subsidiaries, as may be appropriate) shall, in addition to reimbursing the Player’s reasonable travel expenses, pay to the Player an Appearance Fee in respect of any Appearance performed by that Player for or on behalf of a WRA Partner no later than 30 days after the completion of such Appearance(s). The WRA (or any of its Subsidiaries) shall reimburse the Player’s reasonable travel expenses, but shall not pay the Player an Appearance Fee in respect of any Appearance which is solely for the promotion of the WRA.
    5. The Player warrants and represents that:
      1. the Player exclusively owns all rights and interests in and to the Player’s Image Rights or has obtained written authority from all parties that own such rights and/or interests granting permission to the Player to enter into this Agreement;
      2. the Player has the full right, power and authority to enter into and perform this Agreement;
      3. the execution and performance of this Agreement does not violate or conflict with any contract or agreement to which the Player is a party;
      4. the Player has not granted, assigned, encumbered or otherwise disposed of any rights adverse to or inconsistent with the rights granted under this Agreement, or by which any of the rights granted under this Agreement might be diminished or impaired; and
      5. the exercise of any rights granted to the WRA or its Subsidiaries herein will not violate, conflict with or infringe upon any rights of any nature of any other person or entity.
    6. The Player shall indemnify the WRA or its Subsidiaries against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses (including but not limited to any direct, indirect or consequential losses, loss of profit, loss of reputation and all interest, penalties and legal costs (calculated on a full indemnity basis) and all other professional costs and expenses) suffered or incurred by the WRA and/or its Subsidiaries arising out of or in connection with any breach of the warranties contained in clause 4.4 of this Agreement.
  5. MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA
    1. The Player is encouraged to promote the work and interests of the WRA on social media and/or in all other forms of media.
    2. The Player shall not through social media (nor any other form of media or otherwise, during their membership of the WRA and for 12 months thereafter, make any comments that are) in any way (directly or indirectly) prejudicial to the reputation and/or interests of the WRA, or that may bring the WRA into disrepute. Failure to comply with this clause 5.2 may result in disciplinary consequences in accordance with Rule 22.
  6. CONFIDENTIALITY
    1. The Player shall not at any time (during or after their membership of the WRA) disclose to any person any confidential information concerning the business, finances, or affairs of the WRA (or its Subsidiaries), including (for the avoidance of doubt) the terms of this Agreement, except in accordance with clause 6.2 of this Agreement.
    2. The Player may only disclose such confidential information as described in clause 6.1 above:
      1. to their adviser(s) who need to know such information for the purposes of exercising the Player’s rights or carrying out the Player’s obligations under or in connection with this Agreement, subject to the Player ensuring that any adviser(s) to whom it discloses the confidential information shall comply with this clause 6; and
      2. as may be required by law, a court of competent jurisdiction or any governmental or regulatory authority.
    3. The Player shall not use any confidential information of the WRA for any purpose other than to exercise its rights and perform its obligations under or in connection with this Agreement.
  7. DATA PROTECTION
    1. The WRA shall collect and process the Player’s personal data in accordance with the WRA Privacy Policy set out at Schedule 1 of this Agreement.
  8. ENTIRE AGREEMENT
    1. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the Parties and supersedes and extinguishes all previous agreements, promises, assurances, warranties, representations and understandings between them, whether written or oral, relating to its subject matter.
    2. Each Party agrees that it shall have no remedies in respect of any statement, representation, assurance or warranty (whether made innocently or negligently) that is not set out in this Agreement. Each Party agrees that it shall have no claim for innocent or negligent misrepresentation or negligent misstatement based on any statement in this Agreement.
  9. VARIATION
    1. No variation of this Agreement shall be effective unless it is in writing and signed by the Parties (or their authorised representatives).
  10. GOVERNING LAW AND JURISDICTION
    1. This Agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales and the Parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales in respect of any claims (contractual or otherwise) which arise in connection with it.

Privacy Policy

Introduction

    1. We, the WRA, a trade union, are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
    2. This Privacy Policy sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us, in accordance with applicable law.
    3. Please read the following carefully to understand our practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.
    4. Please read the following carefully to understand our practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.
    5. For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”), the WRA is a data controller.

How do we collect information from you?

    1. We obtain information about you when you interact with us, for example:
      1. When information is provided by you, your representative(s) or your employer(s), in relation to your membership of the WRA;
      2. When you participate in WRA activities and/or events;
      3. When you make use of WRA membership benefits; and/or
      4. If you sign up to receive email newsletters.
    2. We may also obtain information about you indirectly, from the Rugby Football Union.

What type of information is collected?

    1. We collect various types of information, including:
      1. Personal data (including your name, age, address, telephone number and email address) that you have provided to us when you became a member of the WRA;
      2. Information about your employer, employment status and trade union membership;
      3. Information you provide in order to participate in WRA activities and/or events, for example your name, address, telephone number and email address;
      4. Records of your involvement in activities and/or events of the WRA;
      5. Your marketing preferences;
      6. Information you provide in order to make use of WRA membership benefits such as legal assistance, welfare support and/or personal development support, which may include certain medical and/or financial information; and
      7. Records of your use of WRA membership benefits.
    2. If you use our website at www.womensrugbyassociation.co.uk, we will collect certain information from you including your IP address through your use of the website. You can read more about how we collect that data in our Website Privacy and Cookie Policy.

How is your information used?

    1. By providing the above information, you agree that we can use your personal data for the following purposes, and you also acknowledge that the WRA may process your personal data for these purposes as part of pursuing our legitimate interests as a trade union:
      1. Registering you as a member of the WRA;
      2. Communicating with you about your membership and essential trade union activities;
      3. Representing you and/or your interests effectively; and
      4. Complying with our legal obligations as a trade union.
    2. We may also use your personal data for the following purposes:
      1. Recording your data on our membership database;
      2. Processing your joining fee and annual subscription payments;
      3. Confirming your identity when you contact us;
      4. Sending you statutory communications (i.e. communications that, as a trade union, we have to send you by law);
      5. Administering membership benefits and determining your eligibility for these benefits;
      6. Ensuring you are able to vote in all WRA elections and ballots that you are eligible to vote in;
      7. Representing you as a member of the WRA (either individually or collectively); and
      8. Performing statistical analysis of our membership.
    3. The data collected will be stored either on our internal online database or on a third party’s secure online database on the WRA’s behalf and shared within the WRA for the purposes set out above.
    4. Where we engage a third party to assist in the fulfilling the purposes set out above, your information will be shared with that third party on a confidential basis and subject to the standards of data protection set out in UK legislation at the relevant time and any other relevant legislation or codes of practice. Your data will only be used by the third party for the purposes set out above and strictly on the WRA’s behalf.
    5. By agreeing to this Privacy Policy, you agree to us using your data for the above purposes and sharing it with relevant third parties contracted by us for those purposes, insofar as is reasonably necessary.
    6. We will not disclose your data to any third party unless they are processing data on our behalf; we have your consent; to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim; and/or we are required to do so by law.

How long do we keep this data for?

    1. We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis.
    2. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary to provide the relevant services to you.
    3. Beyond that time, we store:
      1. Application form – retained for one year after processing, then securely destroyed;
      2. Membership record – retained for seven years after membership ends, then minimised;
      3. Case files – retained for seven years after the case is closed, then securely destroyed;
      4. Names – to create historical records.

Consent

    1. We will only undertake the following types of data processing if you have given us your consent to that particular form of data processing:
      1. Communicating with you via email, providing you with any WRA newsletter, information on WRA events, opportunities and updates;
      2. Notifying you about any changes to our website, including improvements and service changes;
      3. Maintaining records of your previous attendance at WRA events and engagement with WRA fundraising efforts.
    2. You are in control of what consent you give us to process your data. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at info@womensrugbyassociation.co.uk.
    3. There will also be instructions on how to unsubscribe included in any direct marketing communications that we send you.

Your rights in relation to your data

  1. If you wish to discuss this Privacy Policy, the data that you are providing or if you have any concerns about your data and/or the way that the WRA deals with it please contact us at info@womensrugbyassociation.co.uk.
  2. You have the right to withdraw consent for the processing of your personal data at any time. You also have a number of other rights, including, the right to make a request for details of the data we process, the right to have that data transferred, to have inaccuracies corrected, to have information erased and to prevent direct marketing.
  3. More information about those rights can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website (www.ico.org.uk) and you are entitled to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are unhappy with the way in which the WRA has handled your data.