The team photo problem

The under 10s win a cup. Someone takes a photo of the squad with the trophy and puts it on the club Facebook page with the caption "well done to Alfie, Noah, Isla" and so on. By Sunday night it has been shared sixty times. One of those families said no to photos, another said yes to photos but never to names, and a third said yes on a form two seasons ago that nobody can find.

This is the team photo problem, and every club has it. Nobody is careless. Consent gets treated as a box on a form at sign-on and then never thought about again. It is three different questions, the answers change, and the person posting the photo is rarely the person who collected the form.

Three questions inside one tick box

When a parent consents to photos they might mean any of these, and they are different things.

• Can the club use a picture or video of my child? That covers the website, social media and the local paper.
• Can the club put my child's name to it? A photo with no name is one thing. A photo with a full name, a club and a rough age is a lot more.
• Can the club publish my child's stats? Goals, appearances and player of the month. Some families love it. Some would rather their nine year old was never ranked in public.

Ask them separately and record them separately. A club with one tick box has to assume the most cautious answer to all three, or it is guessing.

Yes to which wording

The next problem is that the wording changes. The consent form the club used in 2023 said one thing. The one it uses now says something broader, because somebody added Instagram. A parent who ticked the old form agreed to the old wording.

If the club cannot say which version each family agreed to, it cannot say what it has permission for. So the record needs to hold the wording the parent saw and the date. "Photo consent: yes" is too thin. It should read yes, to this exact text, on this day.

That sounds fussy until a parent asks, and a parent will ask.

When the answer changes

Consent does not last for ever. A family's circumstances change, sometimes for reasons the club will never be told, and a parent who was happy last season may need their child off the website this week. That has to be easy to do and quick to act on. The photo comes down and the name comes off on the day they ask.

So the person posting needs to check the current answer, and the answer from sign-on will not do. If the only way to check is to ask the secretary, the photo goes up first and the question gets asked later. That is how it goes wrong.

A safe default for names

One rule saves a lot of trouble. Unless a family has said in so many words that the full name is fine, use a first name and an initial for anyone under 18. "Alfie B" tells the parents and the grandparents everything they need, and it tells a stranger almost nothing. Most clubs would adopt this in a heartbeat if someone suggested it.

Three things to do before the next trophy

• Find out which families have said no to anything, and get that list in front of whoever posts for the club. Do it today, before the next photo.
• Rewrite the consent as three questions and ask every family again, with a date on the answer. It is one message.
• Agree who takes a photo down when asked, and how quickly. Then tell parents that is how it works, so they know they can ask.