Cookies Policy

(Updated January 2020) This Cookies Policy explains how the American Football Ireland (“AFI”) use cookies and similar technologies. Whenever you use AFI’s website information may be collected through the use of cookies and similar technologies. AFI is committed to protecting the personal information collected when you use our website.

This Cookies Policy provides the following information for users:

  • What are cookies and similar technologies?
  • What are the different types of cookies?
  • What are cookies used for?
  • How does AFI use cookies?
  • How can users manage or opt out of cookies?
  • Contact details and where to find further information
What are cookies and similar technologies?

A cookie is a small data file, often including a unique identifier, which is sent to your computer, mobile phone or tablet device (referred to in this policy as a “device”) by the web server so the website can remember some information about your browsing activity on the website. The cookie will collect information relating to your use of our Services, information about your device, e.g. the device’s IP address and browser type, broad location and, if you arrived at our site via a link from third party site, the URL of the linking page. If you have registered for any Services or you are a subscriber, it may also collect your name and email address, which may be transferred to data processors for registered user or subscriber verification purposes.

Similar technologies known as “local storage” may also be used in our website as an alternative to cookies. This is technology which is similar to cookies and performs very similar functions, such as caching data to enable us to improve our website services. Where we refer to “cookies” in this policy, we mean cookies or similar technologies.

Cookies record information about your online preferences and help us to tailor our services to your interests. Information provided by cookies can help us to analyse your use of our services and help us to provide you with a better user experience.

In addition to cookies, our website may also use web beacons, clear GIFs, page tags and web bugs. These are all types of technology implemented by websites or third party ad servers to allow them to analyse your website use and help improve your experience of the website.

What are the different types of cookies?
  • Session cookies are only stored for the duration of your visit to a website and are deleted from your device when you close your browser;
  • Persistent cookies are saved on your device for a fixed period of time after the browser has closed and are used where we (or a third party) need to identify you for a later browsing session. The fixed period of time is typically 30-90 days for targeting or behavioural advertising cookies and may be up to 26 months for analytical performance and measurement cookies;
  • First party cookies are set by the website you are visiting; and
  • Third party cookies are cookies used within our Services which are set by other organisations. These include cookies from external analytics services which help us to understand the use of our sites, or by advertisers so that they can track the effectiveness of their advertisements.
What are cookies used for?

1. Functional Cookies

Functional cookies are essential to the running of our services. They are used to remember your preferences on our websites and to provide enhanced, more personal features. The information collected by these cookies is usually anonymised, so we cannot identify you personally. Functional cookies do not track your internet usage or gather information which could be used for selling advertising, but they do help with serving advertising. These cookies are usually session cookies which will expire when you close your browsing session.

2. Essential or ‘Strictly Necessary’ Cookies

These cookies are essential for the running of our Services. Without these cookies, parts of our websites would not function. These cookies do not track where you have been on the internet and do remember preferences beyond your current visit and do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing purposes. These cookies are usually session cookies which will expire when you close your browsing session.

3. Analytical Performance and Measurement Cookies

Analytical performance cookies are used to monitor the performance of our Services, for example, to determine the number of page-views and the number of unique users a website has. Web analytics services may be designed and operated by third parties. The information provided by these cookies allows us to analyse patterns of user behaviour and we use that information to enhance user experience or identify areas of the website which may require maintenance. The information is anonymous (i.e. it cannot be used to identify you and does not contain personal information such as your name and email address) and it is only used for statistical purposes

How does AFI use cookies?

AFI, together with our trusted partners, uses cookies in combination with other information we maintain for a number of purposes, including the following:

1. Essential and Functional Cookies

We use these cookies to enable certain online functionality including:

    • access your information so we can provide you with customised content and experiences, or remember the last page you visited on the site;
    • identify returning users, registrants and subscribers and allow them to be presented with a personalised version of the site;
    • eliminating the need for returning users to re-enter their login details;
    • commenting on our sites;
    • maintain your settings and authenticate your identity while you are logged in to the site;
    • to support security measures and to assist in identifying possible fraudulent or abusive activities.

If you object to the use of essential and functional cookies please scroll down to: How can users manage or opt out of cookies?

2. Analytical Performance and Measurement Cookies

We use these cookies to measure users’ behaviour to better develop our Services. By using analytics services provided by third parties such as Google Analytics and ComScore, we can analyse and measure which pages are viewed and how long for and which links are followed, and we can use this information to provide more content which is of interest. We also use this analysis to report on our performance.

If you object to the use of analytical performance and measurement cookies please see here: How can users manage or opt out of cookies?

3. Other Third Party Cookies

You may notice on some pages of our websites that cookies have been set that are not related to AFI. When you visit a page with content embedded from, for example, YouTube or Facebook, these third party service providers may set their own cookies on your device. Future does not control the use of these third party cookies and cannot access them due to the way that cookies work, as cookies can only be accessed by the party who originally set them. Please check the third party websites for more information about these cookies.

Some of our websites use Adobe Flash Player to deliver video and game content to users. Adobe utilise their own cookies, which are not manageable through your browser settings but are used by the Flash Player for similar purposes, such as storing preferences or tracking users. Flash Cookies work in a different way to web browser cookies; rather than having individual cookies for particular jobs, a website is restricted to storing all data in one cookie. You can control how much data, if any, may be stored in that cookie but you cannot choose what type of information is allowed to be stored. You can manage which websites can store information in Flash cookies on your device via the website storage settings panel on the Adobe website.

How can users manage or opt out of cookies?

Some people find the idea of a website storing information on their device a little intrusive, in particular when the information is stored and used by a third party. For example, you may object to being served advertising which is targeted to your interests based on your browsing history. If you would prefer to opt out of cookies, it is possible to control cookies by following the steps below, however you should be aware that you might lose some features and functionality of the website if you do so.

Cookies, including those which have already been set, can be deleted from your hard drive. You can also change the preferences/settings in your web browser to control cookies. Some internet browsers have a ‘Do Not Track or ‘DNT’ setting; this sends a signal to websites asking them not to track your browsing. The following links may be helpful:

In some cases, you can choose to accept cookies from the primary site, but block them from third parties. In others, you can block cookies from specific advertisers, or clear out all cookies. Deleting or blocking cookies may reduce functionality of the site. To learn more about how to reject cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org or go to the help menu within your internet browser. If you experience any problems having deleted cookies, you should contact the supplier of your web browser.

For more information about third party cookies generated by advertisers please visit www.youronlinechoices.com .

Please be aware that these are third party websites and AFI does not accept any liability for the instructions given on these sites.

Opting out of Analytical Performance Cookies:
If you would like to opt out of Analytics cookies, please do so by clicking on the relevant links in this Third Party Cookies table here.

Further information and contact details:

Please contact the IAFA Commissioner if you would like more information on the cookies that we use and their purposes: