One simple rule
Photographs and video celebrate the league. They can also put a child at risk if they are used carelessly, or show a child whose family has good reason to keep them out of public view.
So the rule is simple: no picture in which a child can be identified is published without a parent's or guardian's consent for that use. Consent for one use is not consent for another. A child's photograph is their personal data, and we treat it that way.
This policy works alongside the Child Safety Policy and the privacy section of our Policies. It applies to league staff and volunteers, official photographers and streaming crews, club staff, our partners, and parents and spectators.
Two consents, asked separately
When you register a player, on this site or in the Elite app, you choose each of these separately. Nothing is pre-ticked, and saying no to either has no effect on selection or on playing.
- Coaching record
- Video, stills and match and performance records kept in the player's own record and seen only by their coaches, the selection panel and the family. Never published. In the app these are "Photos and video during training" and "Match and performance records".
- Public and promotional
- Team photographs, match action and presentation-day pictures used on vecl.in and vecl.au, in the app, on the league's and clubs' social media, and in the league's and Elite Cricket Academy's promotional material. In the app this is "Photos and video for promotion".
- Players aged 12 and over
- are asked too, in words they understand. If a player does not want a picture used, we do not use it, even if a parent has consented.
- How long
- Your choices stay as you set them until you change them, and we ask again at every new season's registration.
Every match is streamed
Every VECL Chennai match is streamed live on the league's YouTube and Facebook channels, and the recordings stay up. Streaming is part of how the league runs and is not switched off for individual players, so families are told at registration.
- Wide cameras
- Streams use fixed, wide match cameras. Close-ups, interviews, replays and player graphics are used only for players with public consent.
- Names
- Commentary, scorecards and on-screen graphics never name a player without public consent. Scorers and commentators get the "no publication" list before the match.
- Without consent
- A player without public consent still plays, and their matches are still streamed, but the cameras stay wide enough that they cannot be identified.
- Recordings
- Ask us to remove or edit a recording after the match and we do so within 7 days. We cannot recall what was watched live.
The lines we do not cross
- Publish a child's full name with their photograph together with their school, area or anything else that would help someone find them. On league channels a player is named by first name and club, or first name and surname only in results and awards.
- Tag a child on social media, or publish where a child is while they are still at the ground.
- Publish pictures of children in changing areas or toilets, while changing, or anything that could embarrass them, such as an injury.
- Alter a child's image with AI, or use it to create or train AI imagery.
- Use a child's picture in targeted advertising aimed at children, or sell it, or give it to anyone outside the league and its academy.
Withdrawing consent, and taking a picture down
A parent or guardian, or a player aged 12 or over, can withdraw either consent at any time, from your account in the Elite app or by writing to info@elitecricketacademy.co.in with the player's name and what you want removed. You do not need to give a reason. We then:
- stop any new use straight away;
- remove the pictures from vecl.in within 2 working days, and from the league's social media within 7 days;
- record the change against the registration.
We cannot recall printed material already handed out, or copies other people have made, but we will ask anyone we gave a picture to to remove it. If there is a safety reason — a court order, or a family situation — tell us in confidence at info@elitecricketacademy.co.in with "Child safety" in the subject. We will make sure the child is not photographed for publication at all, without drawing attention to it.
Photographers, staff and families
- Official photographers
- Appointed by the league, screened under the Child Safety Policy, wearing identification, and briefed on this policy before they start. Before each match they get the private "no publication" list.
- No player singled out
- A player without consent still plays and is in the team. They are never asked to stand aside from a team photo in a way that singles them out; a second photo is taken or the published one cropped.
- Staff phones
- Staff use league devices where they can. Pictures taken on a personal phone are uploaded to the league's storage and deleted from the phone within 7 days, and never posted on personal social media.
- Parents and spectators
- You are welcome to photograph your own child for your family. Do not publish pictures of other people's children without their parent's permission, and do not tag them. Streaming a whole match, and flying a drone, need the league's approval.
- Changing areas
- No photography or filming in changing areas or toilets, by anyone.
Where pictures are kept, and for how long
Pictures are kept in the league's access-controlled storage, never in public folders. Pictures that were never used are deleted after 2 years. Team photos and award winners kept as the league's history stay as long as they are needed, unless a family withdraws consent.
If a picture worries you
If you see a picture of a child that worries you, on our channels or anywhere else, tell us at info@elitecricketacademy.co.in, with "Child safety" in the subject if a child may be at risk. Online abuse of a child can also be reported at cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.
The league reviews this policy at least once a year and whenever the law changes.