THE FINE PRINT.

1. Who we are.

The Fourth Official ("we", "us", "the platform") is a software service operated from Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. We provide match-day tools for amateur football: team management, fixture scheduling, fee collection, referee booking, and verified stat records.

2. Accounts.

You need an account to use most features. You are responsible for keeping your login details secure. You must be 16 or older to register. One person, one account. We can suspend or close accounts that breach these terms or that we reasonably believe are being used to abuse the platform.

3. Match fees and escrow.

When your captain collects match fees through the platform, the money is held in escrow with our payment processor (currently WAM, a payment platform built in Trinidad and Tobago and regulated by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago) until the match is verified. On verification, fees pay out: the ground gets the pitch fee, the referee gets their rate, and any surplus returns to the team kitty.

During the pilot, WAM runs in test mode. Real-money payments turn on once our WAM Business onboarding completes. Until then, captains can use the "mark paid" fallback to track who settled offline.

4. Stat verification.

Match results and player stats become part of your Scout Card only after two signatures: the opposing captain and the referee. Before that, the result is provisional. After that, the result is locked unless a dispute is filed within 7 days.

Disputes go to a small admin team that reviews the referee's entry, both captains' entries, and any supporting evidence (photos, video, text logs). We resolve disputes within 48 hours and the decision is final for stats purposes.

5. Referee payouts.

A referee's fee releases the moment all three sign-offs land (home captain, away captain, ref). If the captains dispute a result, the referee's fee still releases - the referee did the job and gets paid. Only the team scores remain provisional until admin review completes.

6. Your data.

Your profile, your match data, your goals, your assists - they are yours. You can export them in a portable format at any time. You can request deletion at any time and we will purge your personal data within 30 days, retaining only anonymised match records needed for other players' verified stats.

Our handling of personal data is governed by our Privacy policy.

7. Acceptable use.

Don't use the platform to harass other users. Don't fabricate stats. Don't impersonate. Don't bypass payment flows. Don't scrape the platform at scale without written permission. We can suspend accounts that breach these rules without notice.

8. Termination.

You can delete your account at any time. We can close your account if you breach these terms or if the platform shuts down (we'll give 90 days' notice and a data export tool in that case). Match records co-signed by other users remain on those users' Scout Cards even after your account closes, with your name anonymised.

9. Changes to these terms.

We can update these terms when the platform changes. Material changes get 30 days' notice via email and an in-app banner. Your continued use after that notice counts as acceptance.

10. Jurisdiction.

These terms are governed by the laws of Trinidad and Tobago. Disputes go to the courts of Port of Spain. If a clause turns out to be unenforceable, the rest of the terms still apply.

11. Contact.

Questions about these terms: legal@thefourthofficial.app.