Who We Are
OLSC Toronto is an Official Liverpool FC Supporters Club (“OLSC”) Branch as designated by Liverpool FC. OLSC Toronto is a collection of Liverpool FC supporters from across the Greater Toronto Area, based in Toronto, ON Canada. OLSC Toronto’s goal is to grow and maintain an ever increasing and active OLSC, and to foster the best possible fan experience this side of Merseyside.
OLSC Toronto expects all Members and supporters to adhere to the Code of Conduct detailed below at all times when participating in in-person or online activities supported or endorsed by l OLSC Toronto functions and any other events endorsed or supported by OLSC Toronto or Liverpool FC.
Respect
- OLSC Toronto is committed to providing a safe and enjoyable environment for all Members, Club supporters, guests, and staff at our home or affiliated pub locations.
- All members shall treat other LFC supporters, as well as supporters of other football/soccer clubs with courtesy and respect. No acts of violence, theft, vandalism, or any behaviour (implied or actual) that threatens the safety of our members will be tolerated.
- No supporters shall threaten another football/soccer fan, or engage in songs or chants that may be deemed offensive.
- No member shall degrade or commit an act of violence on any other person while attending matches at any event affiliated with OLSC Toronto, the International OLSC community, or LFC itself.
- Instances of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to: Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Sexism, Violent Behavior, and/or affiliation with any other groups that do not reflect the inclusive beliefs of OLSC Toronto.
General
All OLSC Toronto Members and supporters are expected to:
- Support the Club in a passionate and enthusiastic manner whilst taking a common-sense approach with sensitivity to those around you (who may be families with minors).
- Always respect other members, supporters, especially opposing fans and ALL guests and staff at our home or affiliate pubs.
- Actively foster a family friendly environment.
- Engage in the responsible consumption of alcohol.
- Use appropriate language, without threatening, foul or abusive content.
- Abide by “The Liverpool Way” when representing and supporting the team.
- Comply with requests from the staff or OLSC Toronto Executive when at our home or affiliate pubs, regarding venue operations, emergency response procedures and this Code of Conduct.
- OLSC Toronto fully supports the Club’s stance on Anti-Racism, Anti-Sexism, etc. and welcomes all Members, supporters and visitors with respect and equality.
Matchday
Specifically, with respect to the matchday events at our official home or affiliate pubs, OLSC Toronto and the pub’s staff have committed to giving us the experience and atmosphere in Toronto. Accordingly, to foster ongoing support and growth of the supporters club, OLSC Toronto Members and supporters should repay that hospitality by adhering to the following:
- Respect the guidance of the pub management and the pub’s rules regarding seating, standing room, and capacity limits. Follow all staff and volunteer instructions.
- When a membership is required to enter an event, please respect the volunteers who manage the process. Have your valid membership cards ready to show at the appropriate time upon entry. Attempts to circumvent the process, using a non-valid membership, or abuse of any kind towards the staff and volunteers will result in immediate ejection from the pub and the membership. Temporary or permanent bans from the pub will be at the discretion of the pub and supported by OLSC Toronto.
- Pay your tab. Tip the bartenders and servers well. Many of them have volunteered to work, especially on Sunday mornings.
- Be mindful of where the servers need to operate and keep their areas open i.e. near the kitchen, point of sales, etc.
- Drink responsibly and accept any decisions of bartenders or servers.
- Unless during a special event, alcohol will not be served for early morning matches before 10 AM or according to local laws as they may change from time to time.
- Do not bring outside alcohol into the pub. This puts undue liability onto the pub and will result in you being requested to leave the premises.
WhatsApp Fan Group
The OLSC Toronto WhatsApp group was created to serve as an additional member benefit; it’s meant to help facilitate fan-to-fan communications, build a stronger community, and offer a more efficient way to communicate club news to everyone.
While OLSC Toronto has a Code Of Conduct that we expect all our members and guests to follow when engaged in any group activity, digital platforms are unique. And so the following Group Rules were created to highlight the community rules as they apply to this digital platform.
In addition or our Code of Conduct, these are our WhatsApp Group Community Guidelines:
- The group is for General and Premium Members of OLSC Toronto only. Do not invite other non-members or those under the age of 16.
- Membership is yearly, based on the OLSC Toronto membership cycle. The member chat will be closed at the end of each season, to be replaced with a new chat for those who become members in the following cycle.
- Choose the group(s) chat you’re most comfortable participating in, and always keep to the purpose of the group and sub-group; don’t share irrelevant messages about other topics.
- The main “Notifications” group is for general announcements on club policies, event notifications, etc.
- Certain groups, such as OLSC Executive or OLSC Volunteers, are open to those who participate in the group’s operations.
- You may choose to join any of the other groups, such as “LFC Fan Chat – General” or “LFC Fan Chat – Technical”.
- Ways to participate:
- Listen/follow – you don’t need to add comments to the chat if you just want to listen to the chatter.
- Comment:
- Ask questions or share your views in the appropriate chat.
- Reply to the questions of others, sharing your insights.
- Best Practices – Again, this is a private supporters club chat with our own rules and expectations which will be administered by the OLSC Toronto Executive. There are some key expectations and best practices everyone should follow if they wish to participate:
- Don’t spam the group; keep messages short, to the point, and don’t repeat the same comments/conversations.
- Do not post advertisements for your or others’ businesses, charities, or fundraisers. There are other groups for this. If they’re related to LFC or Liverpool, please send a message to one of the Admin who will review and post on your behalf.
- Unless you’re in the “general chat”, do not share memes (videos or images). We all get too many messages and, based on feedback, most people don’t like being spammed with constant memes.
- Post your message in one single chunk of text, don’t post every word or sentence in a new message.
- Do not have long one-on-one conversations in the group. Switch to private messages when you want to go down the rabbit hole with someone on a particular topic. Remember that this is a group chat and everyone is listening/watching.
- Unless it’s an emergency, avoid posting between 21:00 and 07:00. By emergency, we mean the “fire, floods, and broken bones” type of emergency, not the “transfer rumour” type of emergency.
- If someone asks a question and you don’t know the answer don’t respond with “I don’t know”. Just wait for someone who knows the answer to reply.
- Please don’t send in a hundred “thank you” messages. If you feel gratitude towards someone – tell them privately, thank them all at once, or just use the heart/like button. If an Administrator posts a general congratulations message to a member (E.g. Birthday or similar), please don’t add a barrage of individual messages, simply add a Like to the comment to DM the individual.
- The group is not a political or religious platform. No arguing, no heated opinions, no fear-mongering, no hyped-up drama, no fake news.
- Check your sources before you share.
- Don’t spam the group; keep messages short, to the point, and don’t repeat the same comments/conversations.
- As with all fan groups, members won’t agree on everything and that’s fine. That said, remember that this is a SUPPORTERS CLUB, not a general, public forum. More than that, this is a LIVERPOOL FC supporters club, which – in Jurgen Klopp’s words – means more. We won’t all agree on transfers, the manager’s starting lineup, substitutions, etc; we will all have different favourite players, and that’s OK. But be respectful; share your disagreement if you don’t like or agree but remember, we are here to support the club, not bash it. If your only interest or your only contribution is to bash the club, we invite you to leave the group. Abuse of this will have you removed anyway at the Administrators’ discretion.
- Set your alerts to your preferences. If you don’t want to be alerted every time someone posts, you can change the settings to mute notifications “all the time” or the next 2, 4, or 8 hours. This is a sanity saver.
- We welcome, celebrate, and encourage all members to join and participate. The conversation must never include any threats to any other member (physical or digital), and we will not tolerate any negative or threatening comments about someone’s sexual orientation, religion, gender, nationality, age, or any other personal attribute. ANY abuse of this rule will have you banned from the group.
- All members must include their name in the user profile visible to other community members.
If you are not sure, ask yourself these three questions before you post:
- Is this relevant?
- Is this necessary?
- Is this a good time to post?
Administration of the chat:
- OLSC Toronto Executives or assigned volunteers will monitor chat for compliance with our community rules.
- Any members participating in a manner deemed contrary to the spirit of a fan chat or in direct violation of our wider Code of Conduct will be subject to Yellow Card warnings or immediate Red Card suspension – at the discretion of the Administrators. (Note: Removing a user from the member chat does not necessarily mean their general OLSC Toronto Membership status is revoked; these are mutually exclusive entities).
- If a member wishes to highlight a comment or user they believe violates these guidelines or rules, they may send a Direct Message or email to YNWA@lfctoronto.com with a screenshot of the comment and their concerns.
Consequences
Yellow or red cards may be issued for any violations of this code, potentially resulting in expulsion from the pub and ultimately from OLSC Toronto.