Global Partners

World Rugby High Performance Data Insights Project

Data Protection Notice

The purposes of this notice is to provide details on the personal data which World Rugby Limited collects and processes in connection with its High Performance Data Insights Project.

For any queries relating to this notice, or relating to the personal data which we process in connection with the High Performance Data Insights Project, World Rugby Limited can be contacted using the contact details specified below. World Rugby Limited’s Data Protection Officer is Liam McKenna and you may contact the Data Protection Officer using the contact details specified below.

Further details on World Rugby Limited’s privacy practices and policies, as well as further details on how World Rugby Limited give effect to data subject rights, can be viewed here: https://www.world.rugby/privacy-policy.

What is the High Performance Data Insights Project?

The objective of the High Performance Data Insights Project is to collect, analyse and compare performance data at team and player levels from each of World Rugby’s High Performance Unions (“HP Unions”) in order to assess return on World Rugby’s High Performance investment in the HP Unions and their players, in accordance with the objectives of the World Rugby High Performance Investment Programme, namely to invest in high performance (15s and 7s) international teams in order to impact on the competitiveness of international rugby.

In order to achieve this, performance data will be collected from publicly available sources (including team sheets, match reports, match footage and match statistics) and data already held by World Rugby used to create performance profiles and insights on the HP Union players and teams. For benchmarking and comparative analysis purposes, data from top-tier national Unions (around 100 players in the selection pool for each top-tier Union) will also be collected for this Project for use on an aggregated basis for benchmarking purposes. This is to enable comparative insights to be generated between HP Union teams and players, and top international performance benchmarks.

Personal data processed

In connection with the above aims, we process the following personal data for the purposes stated below:

  • For players within the selection pool of a HP Union: data from a range of publicly available sources and from your HP Union will be gathered in order to create a performance profile for you, including name, age, position, appearances (for both club and country), selection and availability information (including whether you are unavailable for selection through injury or suspension), matches played, minutes played, match actions, match results and other match statistics (for both club and international matches);
  • For management of a team representing a HP Union: data from a range of publicly available sources and from your HP Union will be gathered in order to create a performance profile for you, including name, age, details of your role and your contract start and end date, details of matches in which you have been involved (including results and other statistics);
  • For players within the selection pool of top-tier Unions: data from a range of publicly available sources will be gathered about you in order to aggregate performance data to create top international performance benchmarks, against which HP Union performance can be compared.

Personal data will be processed using World Rugby’s business intelligence tools for the purposes of to develop data insights into the performance of teams and players and to assist in predicting future performance, in furtherance of the objectives of the World Rugby High Performance Investment Programme.

The lawful basis on which this personal data is processed is that this processing is considered necessary in the legitimate interests of World Rugby to fulfil the mandate which it has been given by its member Unions to invest in high performance (15s and 7s) international teams in order to impact on the competitiveness of international rugby. Analysing performance data in this manner is considered to be necessary, having regard to best practice in the area of assessment investment returns and opportunities, to appropriately and effectively judge the effectiveness of World Rugby’s current and future investments in the HP Unions.

We have carried out a data protection impact assessment to ensure that the privacy concerns of affected individuals have been taken into account in designing and implementing this project, and to ensure that World Rugby’s legitimate interests in carrying out this project are not overridden by the fundamental rights and freedoms of such individuals. If any affected individual wishes to receive a copy of this data protection impact assessment, this can be requested by contacting us using the details below.

Sharing personal data

We may share personal data with certain third parties in connection with the above purposes:

  • We may engage external consultants to assist and support the analysis of the data referenced above;
  • We may share your personal data with technology and IT service providers in connection with the analysis, processing and storage of data referenced above;
  • We may need to provide third party service providers with access to your information to enable us to obtain maintenance, administrative or technical support. These service providers are not authorised by us to use or disclose personal data except as necessary to perform services on our behalf or comply with legal requirements;
  • We will share data insights generated from our analysis with HP Unions, and, in some cases, this may involve sharing personal data with such Unions;
  • We may also share personal data 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.

International transfers of personal data

In some of the circumstances described above, 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 personal data as strong as the level of protection provided in the EU. 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.

How long do we keep your information?

We will keep the personal data referred to above for as long as you continue to participate in international rugby. We have set up a process to remove the personal data of a player or coach when we become aware of their retirement from elite rugby.

Rights to access, correct, modify and/or remove your personal information

All individuals whose personal information is processed pursuant to this Project have the following rights under applicable law, although your ability to exercise these rights may be subject to certain conditions:

  • 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;
  • the right to request that any inaccurate data that is held about you is corrected, or if we have incomplete information you may request that we update the information such that it is complete;
  • the right, in certain circumstances, to request that we erase your personal data; and
  • the right, in certain circumstances, to request that we no longer process your personal data for particular purposes, or object to our use of your personal data or the way in which we process it.

If any such individual has any questions about this notice, or regarding the World Rugby Data Insights Project more generally, you can contact us at the contact details as set out below.

Contact details:

If you have any queries in relation to this privacy statement, or if you would like to contact World Rugby Limited in relation to your rights, please write to us at dataprotection@worldrugby.org or World Rugby House, 8 – 10 Lower Pembroke Street, Dublin 2.

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

Complaints

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