Privacy Policy
1. Purpose
This Privacy Policy applies to Cowboys Charity Limited ("the Cowboys", "we", "our' or "us").
The Cowboys are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as amended (including the Australian Privacy Principles) (Privacy Act). This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, disclose and otherwise handle your personal information.
Personal information means any information about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information is true or not and whether the information is recorded in a material form or not.
The Cowboys recognise the importance of your privacy and your rights in relation to your personal information and is committed to complying with applicable privacy laws (including the Privacy Act and GDPR).
2. Dealing with us anonymously or using a pseudonym
Depending on the nature of your transaction with us, wherever lawful and practicable, you have the option to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym when dealing with us.
However, in most cases, we will need to know some information about you in order to provide products, services or support to you. For example, if you contact us with a query, we need your contact information to respond to you. If you do not provide us with all relevant information, we may not be able to provide you with our products, services or support to you.
3. What kinds of personal information we collect
The types of personal information the Cowboys collect depends on our dealings with you, but may include (without limitation):
a) your name, gender, date of birth, occupation, and contact details such as email, address and phone number;
b) government issued documents such as driver’s licence;
c) purchasing preferences and payment information which we collect when you make a donation, buy tickets, purchase merchandise and/or as part of competitions and promotions (and includes any raffles or transactions made through or in conjunction with our related bodies corporate in support of the Cowboys Community Foundation);
d) your preferences regarding products and services, including any charity programs that you sign up for; and
e) in the case of job applicants, your qualifications, education, training, work experience and skills.
We also use cookies, web beacons and other technologies on our website to collect information about your usage of our services. For instance, we may collect information about third party websites you visit to better understand your preferences and what types of products and services you may be interested in. Such information is usually aggregated and anonymous and ordinarily does not constitute personal information. To the extent that your identity is reasonably identifiable from such information, we will treat that information as personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. You can manage cookies in the settings of your browser or through social network website or app settings.
We also collect personal information provided to us:
a) on business cards submitted to us through business card draws; and
b) on survey forms and competition forms for surveys and competitions we run.
4. How personal information is collected
The Cowboys generally collect personal information directly from you, such as when you submit it to us, for example:
a) when you sign up to be a member with us, or to participate in any Cowboys activities (including online competitions that we run);
b) when you make enquiries or correspond with us;
c) when you transact or make a purchase with us; and
d) otherwise through your interaction with us, whether in-person or online (including through our websites, social media accounts, and chatbots).
We may also collect personal information (other than sensitive information) from:
a) our related bodies corporate including Cowboys Leagues Club Limited Cowboys Rugby League Football Limited, as permitted by the Privacy Act;
b) a third party (such as a sponsor or corporate partner of the Cowboys); and
c) information that is on public record.
Where we collect your information from another entity, and we are permitted to collect such information under the Privacy Act, we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to notify you of the matters prescribed in the Australian Privacy Principles, including the fact that we have so collected the information, and the circumstances of that collection.
5. Collection of sensitive information
This section largely relates to the Cowboys’ job applicants, volunteers, program participants and players.
We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent where the information is reasonably necessary and only to the extent it relates to our organisation’s activities. We may also collect sensitive information as permitted by the Privacy Act, including where the sensitive information relates to our non-profit activities and the sensitive information relates solely to you as our member or an individual who has regular contact with us in connection with our charity activities.
Sensitive information that we may collect includes health information, racial or ethnic origin, criminal records (for example, if you apply for a position with us, whether as an employee or a volunteer), for the purposes as outlined in the section below.
6. The purposes for which personal information is collected, used and disclosed
Your personal information (other than sensitive information) will only be used and disclosed for:
a) the primary purpose for which it was collected;
b) a related secondary purpose;
c) in accordance with any express consent you grant the Cowboys; or
d) as otherwise lawfully required or permitted (e.g. where your personal information is requested by a law enforcement agency).
For example, personal information (other than sensitive information) we collect may be used or disclosed for one or more of the following primary and related purposes:
a) entering into a contract with you, including to provide you with our products and services that you have requested and delivering goods to you;
b) processing your membership and enrolment applications and verifying your identity (including your age);
c) from time to time, carrying out competitions and administering your participation in competitions that you have signed up;
d) transacting with you, including processing payments of memberships and donations;
e) responding to your queries and complaints;
f) administering our membership benefits to you;
g) managing Cowboys membership and supporters;
i) assessing your suitability for employment where you are a job applicant;
j) otherwise, administering our business and complying with applicable laws.
We may also use or disclose your personal information to:
a) provide you with Cowboys charitable, community and educational activities, including delivering our NRL Cowboys House and Try for 5! programs to you; and
b) provide with you volunteer opportunities to support the delivery of our programs.
Cowboys may also share and disclose your personal information (other than sensitive information) to our related bodies corporate, as permitted by the Privacy Act. However, any use of such personal information so collected will be managed in accordance with the applicable Privacy Policy.
7. Use or disclosure of sensitive information
We will only use or disclose your sensitive information for the primary purpose for which it was collected, a directly related secondary purpose that you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose, as required or permitted by law, or otherwise only with your consent.
For example, we may use sensitive information such as:
a) health information to provide you with services at our Football programs and NRL Cowboys House and directly related boarding services;
b) your racial or ethnic origin to comply with any reporting or compliance obligations we have to a government agency (including for example, the National Indigenous Australians Agency); and
c) criminal record to assess your suitability for employment or participation in volunteer activities with us, and to comply any reporting or compliance obligations we have to a government agency (including for example, the National Indigenous Australians Agency).
We will not use sensitive information for any marketing purposes.
8. Direct Marketing
The Cowboys may use your personal information (other than sensitive information) to send you marketing communications if:
a) you would reasonably expect your personal information would be used or disclosed for direct marketing, but only if we collected your personal information from you directly (including for example, personal information collected to fulfil an order); or
b) otherwise, you have expressly consented to receive direct marketing communications, and
c) the Cowboys have provided a simple means by which you can request not to receive direct marketing; and you have not made a request not to receive direct marketing.
In each direct marketing communication, the Cowboys provide an unsubscribe option. If you do not wish to receive direct marketing, please unsubscribe through the link.
9. Disclosing personal information to third parties
The Cowboys may disclose your personal information to third parties as part of our functions and activities including (without limitation):
a) delivery, courier and postal organisations: we may disclose your personal information to delivery, courier and postal organisations in order to deliver merchandise you order;
b) government agencies, such as the National Indigenous Australians Agency, to comply with any reporting or compliance obligations, where we are permitted to do so;
c) law enforcement and emergency services agencies: we may disclose your personal information where required or authorised to do so by law, including in emergency situations and to assist law enforcement agencies with active investigations. We will always ensure that those to whom we disclose your personal information have the legal right to receive it; and
d) marketing and promotions: we engage email marketing providers, market research companies, promotions management and other data analytics companies to perform direct marketing on our behalf. You will always have the right to opt out of receiving promotional materials from us.
e) The Cowboys may also disclose your information to other service providers such as IT cloud service providers, ticketing agents, mail houses and other similar third party organisations. For example, the Cowboys use third party credit card payment gateway services on our website. If you pay for tickets or services through the Cowboys' website, the Cowboys will be required to provide certain financial details to the third-party service provider to effect the transaction. The Cowboys require these third party organisations to keep your contact details and personal information confidential and only use them to provide services to the Cowboys.
10. Data quality and security
We understand you have entrusted us with the protection of your personal information. As such, we will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure. This includes engaging reputable third party service providers and ensuring that we engage (where possible and practical to do so) in best practice security systems and procedures.
We may store your personal information in hard copy at the Cowboys office or in electronic records in our IT systems. We implement a range of physical and electronic security measures to protect the personal information that we hold, including ensuring that hard copies are stored securely and controlling access to IT systems through use of passwords.
If we no longer require your personal information for any purpose, we will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to destroy the information or ensure that it is de-identified.
11. Access and correction
You can access, review and manage your personal information through:
a) your MyCowboys Account manager, if you have an account with us;
b) communications preferences via links in emails and other communications we send to you from time to time; or
c) contacting our Privacy Officer (see "inquires and complaints" below).
You will be responsible for ensuring your personal information remains accurate, complete and up to date. Please ensure that any written request for access or correction addressed to our Privacy Officer provides adequate detail that identifies what personal information you want access to or corrected.
Where your request to access your personal information will require the Cowboys to incur costs (such costs not to apply to the making a request, but the providing of access to the personal information), we may charge you an access fee to cover those costs (for instance, reasonable staff costs in searching for, locating and retrieving the requested personal information). We will inform you of any such charges prior to them being incurred. We will not charge for any corrections to personal information.
In certain circumstances, we may refuse to provide you access to your personal information. Where we refuse you access, we will provide you with a written explanation as to the reasons for the rejection (for instance, we may refuse to disclose personal information to you where such access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals).
12. Transborder data flows
Other than as specified below, the Cowboys will not disclose your personal information to an overseas recipient unless we have first taken steps reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the personal information that we disclose will not be held, used or disclosed by the recipient of the information inconsistently with, or otherwise in breach of, applicable privacy laws (including the Privacy Act and GDPR). For example, the Cowboys may adopt appropriate contractual clauses with overseas recipients that ensure their compliance with applicable privacy laws (including the Privacy Act and GDPR).
We may disclose your personal information to overseas recipients for things such as processing membership and hosting services, most likely in China, Singapore, the United States and New Zealand, although countries where such recipients are located may vary.
We may also disclose personal information about you to someone who is in a foreign country if:
a) we reasonably believe that the recipient is subject to a law or binding scheme that has the effect of protecting the information in a way that is, overall, substantially similar to applicable privacy laws (including the Privacy Act and GDPR) and there are mechanisms available to you to enforce that protection or scheme;
b) you expressly consent to the transfer after we have informed you that the applicable privacy laws (including the Privacy Act and GDPR) will no longer apply if you provide your express consent; or
c) the entity to which we disclose your personal information is in a jurisdiction prescribed under the Privacy Act for the purposes of Australian Privacy Principle 8.3.
13. Notifiable data breaches scheme
In the event of any loss, or unauthorised access or disclosure of your personal information that is likely to result in serious harm to you, the Cowboys, with the assistance of the National Rugby League where relevant, will investigate and notify you and where applicable the relevant supervisory authority (e.g. the Australian Information Commissioner) within 72 hours of becoming aware of the loss, or unauthorised access or disclosure, in accordance with applicable privacy laws (including the Privacy Act and GDPR).
14. Inquiries and complaints
All inquiries and complaints concerning your personal information, including in respect of alleged breaches of this Privacy Policy and/or applicable privacy laws (including the Privacy Act and GDPR), should be directed to the Cowboys' Privacy Officer:
The Privacy Officer
North Queensland Cowboys
Subject: Attention: Privacy Officer
privacy@cowboys.com.au
26 Graham Murray Place
Railway Estate QLD 4810
At all times, privacy inquiries and complaints will be treated seriously, dealt with promptly and confidentially, and will not affect your existing obligations or commercial arrangements with the Cowboys.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome, or if you would like to complain about how we handle your personal information, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
Website: www.oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992
GPO Box 5288
Sydney NSW 2001
Privacy Policy updates
This Privacy Policy was updated in June 2025. We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, in which case we will post the updated version of the Privacy Policy on our website but may not personally notify you. As such, please check back periodically to see if our Privacy Policy has been updated.
