Introduction

Welling United is extremely proud of its record and reputation of being an inclusive, family-orientated, community football club, one where all our supporters and staff feel safe, valued and respected.

We encourage our supporters to use social media in all matters relating directly to the club in a responsible and respectful way, ensuring an environment of well-mannered discussion, healthy debate and opinion.

All social media posts are likely to become a matter of public record and we urge our supporters and employees alike to ‘think before you post’.

Could my post be harmful to others?

Could my post cause others to fear for their safety?

Could my post have a detrimental impact on another’s wellbeing?

Could my post be perceived as abusive or discriminatory?

Could my post put our football club in a negative light?

Is my post supportive of our football club?

Online abuse is harmful to individuals regardless of their profile. Our commitment to equality is such that abuse towards our players and staff will be treated no differently to that of our fans.

Social media spans numerous computer and technology-based platforms and allows people to participate in online communities. It enables them to generate content, share information with others and communicate with friends, players, staff and other organisations such as football clubs like ourselves.

In addition to our official website wellingunite.com, Welling United actively uses the following social media platforms to keep our fans informed of all the latest news from our football club and to engage with our supporters directly.

Twitter (https://twitter.com/wellingunited)

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/wellingunited)

Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/wellingunited)

YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/wellingunitedofficial)

TikTok(https://www.tiktok.com/@wellingunitedofficial)

Guidance and conduct

When engaging with social media relating directly to the club, whether on the club’s official social media channels or elsewhere, we ask our fans to behave in a way which is in line with our club’s values and beliefs.

We ask our fans to behave in a fair, respectful and tolerant manner towards others, including players, staff and fellow supporters and not to use harmful or disrespectful language which could be deemed as abusive or discriminatory.

The club operates a zero-tolerance policy towards those individuals who engage in persistent foul and abusive language, discriminatory language and targeted harassment of others.

Club action

It is important to understand that, whilst the club are unable to take on the role of policing social media platforms, we will consider sanctions against individuals or groups who produce or disseminate social media posts which cause harm to others or create a risk to safety.

We will investigate all complaints or conduct directly involving the club on a case-by-case basis if the content, in the club’s sole judgement:

• Seriously and directly contravenes our club values
• Does so in a way which we believe causes harm or distress to others or could bring the club into disrepute, and can be reasonably identified as originating from known supporters of the club

Sanctions taken could involve:

• Blocking the individuals or groups from following our official accounts
• Formal warnings
• Banning the individuals or groups from ticketing services and from the stadium
• Reporting individuals or groups to the social media platform and to the police if we feel a crime has been committed
• At all times we will take necessary action we deem most appropriate to protect our club, players, staff and fans

Each report to us will be assessed and we recognise that it will not be possible or realistic for the club to intervene in every situation. The decision on whether to take action will remain at the club’s sole discretion via the Communications department. Any decision not to act does not constitute an endorsement of the content under complaint by the club.

Any individual who feels that they have received undue sanctions should contact the club directly via secretary@wellingunited.com to state their claim.

Advice for fans

Our advice to fans who feel they have been subject to harmful or abusive comments is not to engage further with those accounts involved.

Report the post to the relevant social media platform and block the account user from any further contact.

Supporters can also report posts directly to the club via secretary@wellingunited.com