Cookie Policy

What cookies we use, and why there is no banner

Browsing our public pages sets no cookies at all. The only cookies anywhere on this site are the ones that keep you signed in to the Members Area.

Last updated 19 August 2026. If anything here is unclear, email secretary@summertownstars.org.

The short version. If you are just looking at the site, we set nothing on your device. No advertising, no profiling, no analytics cookies. Because we set nothing optional, there is no banner asking you to accept anything. Sign in to the Members Area and we set three cookies, all of which exist purely to keep you logged in safely.

1. Our approach

We use the smallest number of cookies needed to run the site. Specifically:

Everything we set is a first-party cookie that is strictly necessary for the site to work. Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, strictly necessary cookies do not require consent, which is why you are not asked to accept anything when you arrive.

If we ever introduce a cookie that is not strictly necessary, we will add a consent banner at that point, update this page, and ask before setting it.

2. Browsing the public pages

No cookies are set. You can read the home page, About, Teams, Fixtures, News, Join, Training, Pathways, Club Life and Shop without a single cookie being stored on your device.

Our hosting provider processes standard server request information, your IP address, browser type and the page requested, in order to serve the page and protect against abuse. That is server log data rather than a cookie, and it is covered in our Privacy Policy.

3. Signing in to the Members Area

These are set only once you use the Members Area. All are first-party, all are marked HttpOnly so JavaScript cannot read them, all are Secure so they travel only over an encrypted connection, and all use SameSite protection against cross-site misuse.

CookieWhat it doesHow long it lasts
__Host-next-auth.csrf-tokenProtects sign-in and form submissions against cross-site request forgery.Until you close your browser
__Secure-next-auth.callback-urlRemembers which page to return you to after signing in.Until you close your browser
__Secure-next-auth.session-tokenKeeps you signed in as you move around the Members Area. Holds a signed token, not your password.Until you sign out or close your browser

Without these you could not sign in, stay signed in, or submit a form safely. Signing out removes them, as does clearing cookies in your browser.

4. How we count visitors, without cookies

We use Vercel Web Analytics to see how many people visit and which pages are read. It is deliberately chosen because it does not use cookies. Visitors are counted using a hash generated from the incoming request, which resets every 24 hours and cannot be used to follow anyone between days or across other websites. No personal identifiers are collected and we only ever see aggregated totals.

This is why the site can have useful statistics and still not need a consent banner. We do not use Google Analytics.

5. Payments

Payment processing does not run on these pages. Subscriptions and registration fees are handled by Stripe, on Stripe's own checkout, and Stripe sets its own cookies there to protect the transaction against fraud. That happens on their pages under their notices, not on ours.

6. Cookies we do not set

7. Controlling cookies

Because we set only strictly necessary cookies there is little to manage, and no preference centre to configure. Your options are to sign out of the Members Area, which clears your session, or to block or delete cookies for this site in your browser settings. Blocking them will stop you being able to sign in.

8. Changes to this policy

We review this page at least once a year and whenever the site changes. If we add any cookie that is not strictly necessary, we will update this page, add a banner and ask for your agreement before setting it.

Document control. Version 1.2, adopted by the Chair on 19 August 2026 for ratification at the next committee meeting. Supersedes the April 2026 draft, which described the club's previous website and is withdrawn. Next review August 2027. Data Protection Lead, secretary@summertownstars.org.