Privacy Policy

Last updated: 24 September 2026

1. About this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Opinionista di Rugby ("Opinionista di Rugby", "we", "us" or "our") collects, uses, stores and protects personal information when you visit or use our website, opinionistadirugby.com (the "Website").

We are committed to respecting your privacy and handling personal information in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable Irish data protection and electronic communications legislation.

This Privacy Policy applies to information collected through the Website, including information provided through contact forms, user accounts, comments, interactions with our content and the Opinionista Prediction Game.

This policy does not apply to third-party websites, platforms or services that you may access through links or embedded content on our Website. Those services have their own privacy policies and terms.

2. Who is responsible for your personal data?

The data controller responsible for personal data collected through this Website is:

Data Controller: Federico Di Giacomo
Website: Opinionista di Rugby
Website address: opinionistadirugby.com
Email: redazione@opinionistadirugby.com

If you have any questions about how we process your personal data or wish to exercise your data protection rights, you can contact us using the email address above.

3. What personal information do we collect?

Depending on how you interact with the Website, we may collect the following categories of personal information.

3.1 Information you provide through our contact form

When you submit information to this website via webform, we collect the data requested in the webform in order to track and respond to your submissions. We provide this information to Squarespace, our website hosting provider, so that they can provide website services to us and help us manage our relationship with you.

3.2 User account information

If you create an account to use features of the Website, including the Opinionista di Rugby Prediction Game, we may collect and process information associated with your account.

This information may include:

Email address;
Username;
Display name
A unique account identifier;
Account creation information;
Account status and profile settings.

Account authentication and certain account-related information are processed using Supabase, which provides database and authentication infrastructure used by the Website.

Some profile information, such as your username, display name, profile image, Prediction Game score, leaderboard position and Blue Tick status (where applicable), may be visible to other users or visitors as part of the Website's public features.

Your email address is not intended to be displayed publicly as part of your Prediction Game profile or leaderboard.

3.3 Prediction Game Information

When you participate in the Opinionista di Rugby Prediction Game, we collect and process information relating to your participation in the game.

This may include:

Match predictions;
Predicted scores;
Predicted try scorers;
The date and time predictions are submitted or updated;
Points awarded for predictions;
Total points and other game statistics;
Leaderboard position;
Competition-specific and weekly scores or rankings;
Information necessary to determine whether a prediction was submitted before the applicable deadline.

We use this information to operate the Prediction Game, calculate scores, maintain leaderboards, display results and statistics, enforce prediction deadlines, prevent abuse and maintain the integrity of the game.

Certain game information, including usernames, display names, points, rankings and other game statistics, may be displayed publicly on the Website.

3.4 Blog Comments

This website includes commenting functionality on some pages which enables you to post a comment. This website collects personal information when you post a comment, including:

Your name (which will be displayed as part of your posted comment)
Your email address (optional, to let you know if someone replies to your comment)
Your website URL (optional)

This website includes “likes” functionality on some blog posts which enables you to “like” a post. This website collects personal information when you like a post to try to prevent the same person from liking the same post during the same visit, including:

Information about your browser, network and device
Details about the web page or content you shared or proposed to share
Your IP address

3.5 Information collected automatically

When you visit the Website, certain technical information may be collected automatically.

This may include information such as:

IP address;
Browser type and version;
Device type;
Operating system;
Pages visited;
Date and time of visits;
Referring website;
General information about how you interact with the Website.

Some of this information is collected through Squarespace's website infrastructure and analytics functionality.

4. Squarespace Analytics

This website collects personal information to power our site analytics, including:

Information about your browser, network, and device
Web pages you visited prior to coming to this website
Your IP address

This information may also include details about your use of this website, including:

Clicks
Internal links
Pages visited
Scrolling
Searches
Timestamps

We provide this information to Squarespace, our website analytics provider, to learn about site traffic and activity.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

This website uses cookies and similar technologies, which are small files or pieces of text that download to a device when a visitor accesses a website or app. For information about viewing the cookies dropped on your device, visit The cookies Squarespace uses.

These necessary and required cookies are always used, which allow Squarespace, our hosting platform, to securely serve this website to you.

These analytics and performance cookies are used on this website, as described above, only when you acknowledge our cookie banner. This website uses analytics and performance cookies to view site traffic, activity, and other data.

6. Embedded Youtube content

The Website may contain embedded videos or other content from YouTube.

When you interact with embedded YouTube content, YouTube or its associated companies may receive information about your device, browser and interaction with the embedded content.

Depending on how the embedded content is configured and your cookie preferences, third-party cookies or similar technologies may also be used.

YouTube is operated by Google. YouTube's processing of personal information is governed by Google's and YouTube's own privacy policies.

We do not control the information collected directly by YouTube when you interact with its services.

7. Embedded Instagram content

The Website may contain embedded content from Instagram.

Instagram may collect information about visitors who interact with embedded Instagram content, including technical information about the device or browser and information relating to interactions with the embedded content.

Instagram is operated by Meta Platforms, Inc. and its affiliated companies.

The processing of information by Instagram is governed by Meta's own privacy policies and terms.

We do not control personal information collected directly by Instagram through its embedded content.

8. Embedded Facebook content

The Website may contain embedded content from Facebook.

Facebook may collect information about visitors who interact with embedded Facebook content, depending on how the content and associated technologies are configured.

Facebook is operated by Meta Platforms, Inc. and its affiliated companies.

The processing of information by Facebook is governed by Meta's own privacy policies and terms.

We do not control personal information collected directly by Facebook through its embedded content.

9. How we use personal information

We may use personal information for the following purposes:

To operate and maintain the Website;
To provide user-account functionality;
To respond to enquiries;
To manage comments and community interactions;
To maintain Website security;
To prevent spam, abuse and unlawful activity;
To understand how visitors use the Website;
To improve our content, design and services;
To operate and administer the Opinionista di Rugby Prediction Game;
To record and manage predictions;
To calculate points, scores and rankings;
To operate and publish Prediction Game leaderboards;
To enforce prediction deadlines and game rules;
To detect and prevent manipulation, abuse or misuse of the Prediction Game;
To manage public profile information and Blue Tick status where applicable.
To troubleshoot technical problems;
To comply with legal obligations;
To establish, exercise or defend legal claims where necessary.

We will not use your personal information for purposes that are incompatible with the purposes described in this Privacy Policy without providing appropriate information or obtaining consent where required.

10. Legal bases for processing

Under the GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing personal data.

Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on one or more of the following legal bases:

Consent

Where required, we may process personal information based on your consent.

For example, certain non-essential cookies or similar technologies may require your consent.

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Performance of a contract

Where necessary, we may process personal information to provide services or functionality that you have requested, including creating and maintaining your account and enabling you to participate in the Prediction Game in accordance with its Terms and Conditions.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal information where necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.

These interests may include:

Operating and improving the Website;
Maintaining Website security;
Preventing fraud, spam and abuse;
Managing and moderating comments;
Understanding Website performance;
Maintaining the integrity, security and fair operation of the Prediction Game;
Preventing manipulation, abuse and fraudulent use of accounts;
Maintaining appropriate records of game results and scoring.
Protecting our legal rights.

Legal obligations

We may process personal information where necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

11. Prediction Game Scoring

Prediction Game scores are calculated automatically by comparing submitted predictions with official match results according to the scoring rules described in the Prediction Game Terms and/or How to Play page.

This automated scoring determines the points awarded to a prediction and may affect a user's position on Prediction Game leaderboards.

If you believe that a score has been calculated incorrectly, you may contact us at redazione@opinionistadirugby.com.

12. How we share personal information

We do not sell your personal information.

We may share or make personal information available to service providers where this is necessary to operate the Website.

These may include:

Squarespace, which provides the Website hosting and platform services, as well as database, authentication and related technical infrastructure used for user accounts and the Prediction Game;
Analytics and technical service providers used by Squarespace;
Third-party platforms associated with embedded content, such as YouTube, Instagram and Facebook;
Professional advisers or authorities where disclosure is required by law or necessary to protect our legal rights.

Third-party providers may process information in countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Where personal information is transferred outside the EEA, appropriate safeguards will be used where required by applicable data protection law.

13. How long do we keep personal information?

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required by law.

Different types of information may therefore be retained for different periods.

For example:

Contact-form messages may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to respond to and manage the enquiry;
Account information may be retained while your account remains active and for a reasonable period afterwards where necessary;
Comments may remain on the Website while the relevant article and comment remain published, unless removed;
Technical and analytics information may be retained according to the retention periods and systems used by our service providers.

We may retain information for longer where necessary to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes or establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

14. Data security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

However, no method of transmitting information over the Internet or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

You should therefore avoid sending highly sensitive or confidential information through ordinary Website forms or public comments.

15. Your rights under the GDPR

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the following rights under applicable data protection law:

Right of access

You may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.

Right to rectification

You may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information.

Right to erasure

In certain circumstances, you may ask us to delete your personal information.

Right to restriction

In certain circumstances, you may ask us to restrict how we process your personal information.

Right to object

You may have the right to object to certain processing of your personal information, particularly where we rely on legitimate interests as our lawful basis.

Right to data portability

Where applicable, you may have the right to receive personal information you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to transmit it to another organisation.

Right to withdraw consent

Where processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

The withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.

These rights are subject to certain conditions and exceptions under applicable law.

16. How to exercise your rights

If you would like to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact us using:

Email: redazione@opinionistadirugby.com

Please provide enough information for us to identify you and understand your request.

We may need to request additional information where reasonably necessary to verify your identity and protect personal information from unauthorised disclosure.

We will respond to valid requests within the timeframe required by applicable data protection law.

17. Children's privacy

The Website is intended for a general audience and is not specifically directed at children.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children in circumstances where such collection is prohibited by applicable law.

If you believe that a child has provided us with personal information and that we should not have collected it, please contact us so that we can investigate and take appropriate action.

18. Links to other websites

The Website may contain links to websites and services operated by third parties.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of third-party websites.

We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party website you visit.

19. International data transfers

Some of the service providers used to operate the Website may process personal information outside the European Economic Area.

Where personal information is transferred outside the EEA, we will seek to ensure that the transfer is carried out in accordance with applicable data protection law and that appropriate safeguards are in place where required.

20. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to:

The Website;
Our services;
The information we collect;
The technologies we use;
Applicable laws or regulatory requirements.

When we make significant changes, we may update the "Last updated" date at the beginning of this Privacy Policy and, where appropriate, provide additional notice.

We recommend checking this page periodically for the latest version.

21. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we process your personal information, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue, but you have the right to make a complaint to the Irish Data Protection Commission through the website: https://www.dataprotection.ie/.

22. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, our use of personal information, or your data protection rights, please contact:

Opinionista di Rugby
Data Controller: Federico Di Giacomo
Email: redazione@opinionistadirugby.com
Website: opinionistadirugby.com