The Football Association


The Football Association is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the amateur and professional game in its territory.
The FA sanctions all competitive football matches within its remit at national level, and indirectly at local level through the county football associations. It runs numerous competitions, the most famous of which is the FA Cup. It is also responsible for appointing the management of the men's, women's, and youth national football teams.
The FA is a member of both UEFA and FIFA and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board which is responsible for the Laws of the Game. As the first football association, it does not use the national name "English" in its title. The FA is based at Wembley Stadium, London. The FA is a member of the British Olympic Association, meaning that the FA has control over the men's and women's Great Britain Olympic football team.
All of England's professional football teams are members of the Football Association. Although it does not run the day-to-day operations of the Premier League, it has veto power over the appointment of the League Chairman and Chief Executive and over any changes to league rules. The English Football League, made up of the three fully professional divisions below the Premier League, is self-governing, subject to the FA's sanctions.

History

For centuries before the first meeting of the Football Association in The Freemasons' Tavern on Great Queen Street, London on 26 October 1863, there were no universally accepted rules for playing football. Six meetings near London's Covent Garden, at 81–82 Long Acre, ended in a split between the Football Association and what would become the future rugby ten years later. Both of them had their own uniforms, rituals, gestures and highly formalised rules.
In each public school the game was formalised according to local conditions; but when the schoolboys reached university, chaos ensued when the players used different rules, so members of the University of Cambridge devised and published a set of Cambridge Rules in 1848 which was widely adopted. Another set of rules, the Sheffield Rules, was used by a number of clubs in the North of England from the 1850s.
Eleven London football clubs and schools representatives met on 26 October 1863 to agree on common rules. The founding clubs present at the first meeting were Barnes, Civil Service, Crusaders, Forest of Leytonstone, N.N. Club, the original Crystal Palace, Blackheath, Kensington School, Perceval House, Surbiton and Blackheath Proprietary School; Charterhouse sent their captain, B.F. Hartshorne, but declined the offer to join. Many of these clubs are now defunct or play rugby union. Civil Service FC, who now plays in the Southern Amateur League, is the only one of the original eleven football clubs still in existence and playing Association Football. although Forest School has been a member since the fifth meeting in December 1863.
Central to the creation of the Football Association and modern football was Ebenezer Cobb Morley. He was a founding member of the Football Association in 1863. In 1862, as captain of Barnes, he wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for the sport that led to the first meeting at The Freemasons' Tavern that created the FA. He was the FA's first secretary and its second president and drafted the Laws of the Game generally called the "London Rules" at his home in Barnes, London. As a player, he played in the first-ever match in 1863.
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The first version of the rules for the modern game was drawn up over a series of six meetings held in The Freemasons' Tavern from October till December. Of the clubs at the first meeting, Crusaders, Surbiton and Charterhouse did not attend the subsequent meetings, replaced instead by the Royal Navy School, Wimbledon School and Forest School. At the final meeting, F. M. Campbell, the first FA treasurer and the Blackheath representative, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting, the first which allowed for the running with the ball in hand and the second, obstructing such a run by hacking, tripping and holding. Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA but instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The term "soccer" dates back to this split to refer to football played under the "association" rules. After six clubs had withdrawn as they supported the opposing Rugby Rules, the Football Association had just nine members in January 1864: Barnes, Kilburn, Crystal Palace, War Office, Forest Club, Forest School, Sheffield, Uppingham and Royal Engineers.
An inaugural game using the new FA rules was initially scheduled for Battersea Park on 2 January 1864, but enthusiastic members of the FA could not wait for the new year: the first game under F. A. rules was played at Mortlake on 19 December 1863 between Morley's Barnes team and their neighbours Richmond, ending in a goalless draw. The Richmond side were obviously unimpressed by the new rules in practice because they subsequently helped form the Rugby Football Union in 1871. The Battersea Park game was the first exhibition game using FA rules, and was played there on Saturday 9 January 1864. The members of the opposing teams for this game were chosen by the President of the FA and the Secretary and included many well-known footballers of the day. After the first match according to the new FA rules a toast was given "Success to football, irrespective of class or creed".
Another notable match was London v Sheffield, in which a representative team from the FA played Sheffield FC under Association rules in March 1866; Charles Alcock described this game as "first of any importance under the auspices of the Football Association". Alcock of the Wanderers was elected to the committee of the FA in 1866, becoming its first full-time secretary and treasurer in 1870. He masterminded the creation of the Football Association Cup—the longest-running association football competition in the world—in 1871. Fifteen participating clubs subscribed to purchase a trophy. The very first Cup Final was held at The Oval on 16 March 1872, fought between the Wanderers and the Royal Engineers, watched by 2,000 spectators.
After many years of wrangling between the London Association and the Sheffield Football Association, the FA Cup brought the acceptance that one undisputed set of laws was required. The two associations had played 16 inter-association matches under differing rules; the Sheffield Rules, the London Rules and Mixed Rules. In April 1877, those laws were set with a number of Sheffield Rules being incorporated.
The FA Cup was initially contested by mostly southern, amateur teams but more professionally organised northern clubs began to dominate the competition during the early 1880s; "The turning point, north replacing south, working class defeating upper and professionals impinging upon the amateurs' territory, came in 1883." Hitherto, public school sides had played a dribbling game punctuated by violent tackles, but a new passing style developed in Scotland was successfully adopted by some Lancashire teams, along with a more professional approach to training. Blackburn Olympic reached the final in March 1883 and defeated Old Etonians. Near-neighbours Blackburn Rovers started to pay players, and the following season won the first of three consecutive FA Cups. The FA initially tried to outlaw professionalism but, in the face of a threatened breakaway body, by 1885 was forced to permit payments to players. Three years later, in 1888, the first Football League was established, formed by six professional clubs from northwest England and six from the midlands.
In 1992, the Football Association took control of the newly created Premier League which consisted of 22 clubs who had broken away from the First Division of the Football League. The Premier League reduced to 20 clubs in 1995 and is one of the richest football leagues in the world.
The Football Association celebrated their 150th year by changing their logo. The new logo has retained the current logo's three lions but it would be in golden colour and also have "The FA" written above and also have "1863 150 years 2013" written below. It also has some writings of the laws of the game penned at the first meeting held at The Freemasons' Tavern.

Women's football

By 1921 women's football had become increasingly popular through the charitable games played by women's teams during and after the First World War. In a move that was widely seen as caused by jealousy of the crowds' interest in women's games which frequently exceeded that of the top men's teams, in 1921 the Football Association banned all women's teams from playing on grounds affiliated to the FA because they thought football damaged women's bodies.
For several decades this decision meant that women's football virtually ceased to exist. It only reversed from 1969 when, after the increased interest in football caused by England's 1966 World Cup triumph, the Women's Football Association was founded, although it would take a further two years - and an order from UEFA - to force the Football Association to remove its restrictions on the playing rights of women's teams. It was not until 1983 that the WFA was able to affiliate to the FA as a "County Association" and only in 1993 did the FA found the "Women's Football Committee" to run women's football in England.

UK football sexual abuse scandal

In mid-November 2016, allegations of widespread historical sexual abuse at football clubs dating back to the 1970s began to emerge. On 21 November, the Football Association said it would set up a helpline; this was established with the NSPCC and opened on 24 November, reportedly receiving over 50 calls within the first two hours, over 100 by 27 November, and 860 by 1 December with 350 individuals alleging abuse. The FA and NSPCC also collaborated to produce a film about how to keep children safe in the sport, featuring the captains of England's men's, women's and cerebral palsy football teams.
On 27 November, the FA announced it was to set up an internal review, led by independent counsel Kate Gallafent QC, into what Crewe and Manchester City knew about convicted child sex offender Barry Bennell and allegations of child sexual abuse in football, and investigate what information it was aware of at the time of the alleged offences.
The FA was criticised by Conservative MP Damian Collins, chair of the House of Commons' Culture, Media and Sport Committee, for being too slow in reacting and not instigating a wider review. Former sport minister Gerry Sutcliffe talked of previous concern about how the FA dealt with governance of the sport and with youth development. Sutcliffe said an independent body, such as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport should look at the issue rather than the FA investigating itself: "What I've seen in football over the years is that they're very narrow, very insular, and may not do a proper job even though with the right intentions."
On 6 December 2016, the FA announced that, due to "the increased scope of the review since it was announced" and Gallafent's other professional commitments, the review would be conducted by Clive Sheldon QC. On 11 January 2017, the Sheldon review had made its first call for evidence, writing to all football clubs in England and Wales, amateur and professional, asking for information by 15 March about allegations of child sexual abuse between 1970 and 2005. In March 2018, it was reported that the scale of evidence provided, plus the "chaotic nature of the archiving", had delayed the inquiry team's sift through the FA's legal files; around 500,000 pages of material from 6,000 files were uploaded to a digital platform, and 353 documents were identified as highly relevant. Sheldon expected to start writing his final report in August 2018.
In July 2018, it was reported that the FA's independent inquiry had found no evidence of an institutional cover-up or of a paedophile ring operating within football. Sheldon's report, likely to be highly critical of several clubs, was initially expected to be delivered to the FA in September 2018, but its publication was delayed, potentially by up to a year, pending the retrial of Bob Higgins and possible further charges against Barry Bennell.

FA 2017 reform

Also in December 2016, five former FA executives - David Bernstein, David Davies, Greg Dyke, Alex Horne and David Triesman - called on Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee to propose legislation to reform the FA, saying it was outdated, held back by "elderly white men", and unable to counter the power of the Premier League or "to reform and modernise in a fast-changing world".
In April 2017, it was announced that some reforms, including reducing the size of the FA's board and increasing the number of women, would be submitted for approval to the FA's annual general meeting on 18 May. However, the proposed changes were criticised by some for not going far enough, particularly to improve minority representation. The proposals were approved at the AGM and include:
However, pressure for FA reform continued fuelled by allegations of racism and bullying in relation to the Mark Sampson and Eniola Aluko cases, and the historical sexual abuse scandal. In October 2017, FA chairman Greg Clarke announced a "fundamental" review of the FA after admitting it had "lost the trust of the public" following the Sampson controversy. In the same month, Clarke was criticised by sexual abuse victim Andy Woodward and the Professional Footballers' Association's chief executive Gordon Taylor for remarks Clarke made to a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing.

Crown dependencies

The football associations within the Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man are affiliated to the FA despite having a separate identity from that of the United Kingdom and by extension England. They are considered county football associations by the FA. Matt Le Tissier and Graeme Le Saux have represented the FA's full national representative team and were born in Guernsey and Jersey respectively.
The Guernsey Football Association, Isle of Man Football Association and Jersey Football Association have been affiliated with the FA since 1903, 1908 and 1905 respectively.
The British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar's Gibraltar Football Association was affiliated to the FA from 1911 until it opted to become a fully recognised member of UEFA, a feat achieved after a 14-year legal battle. Joseph Nunez, the Gibraltar FA President claimed they were "unilaterally thrown out" of the FA following an intervention from Geoff Thompson.
A loophole was closed in May 2008 by FIFA which allowed players born in the Channel Islands to choose which home nation within the United Kingdom they will represent at international level. During the 1990s, Trevor Wood and Chris Tardif represented Northern Ireland.
Some of the other British Overseas Territories have local football associations or leagues, but these are not considered subsidiary to the Football Association. Although the British Overseas Territories are too small to support professional teams, they have produced players such as Clyde Best who have gone on to play professionally in the Football Association, and referees such as Carlyle Crockwell, who have refereed FIFA matches.

Relationship with FIFA

The Football Association first joined FIFA in 1905. The British Associations opted to leave FIFA after World War I when FIFA chose not to exclude those who were part of the Central Powers from the organisation. The British Associations' stance had changed by 1922 and in 1924 they had rejoined FIFA.
The British Olympic Association had fought against 'broken time' – monetary compensation for athletes' earnings when competing in the Olympic games. At the 1925 Olympic Congress in Prague, the British had made an amendment that concluded governing federations should define amateur status for their sports but only in accordance with the definition of amateurism accepted by the Olympic Congress. In 1928, Switzerland proposed to FIFA that in certain circumstances, 'broken time' payments should be allowed and FIFA accepted. The FA resigned from FIFA in protest against the proposal. As a result of the FA's resignation, England did not participate in the 1930, 1934 or 1938 FIFA World Cup.
At the 1930 Olympic Congress in Berlin, Belgian delegates proposed that for each sport the definition of amateur status be left to its international federation. The BOA argued for a common definition of amateurism and argued that 'broken time' payments were against the Olympic ideal.
The FA rejoined FIFA in 1946 and participated in their first World Cup in 1950. One of the first actions of the Football Association was to request the expulsion of the German and Japanese national football associations for their countries' role in World War II. Germany and Japan were prevented from qualifying for the 1950 FIFA World Cup as a consequence. They were re-acquainted with FIFA in 1950 following a second request from Switzerland who had had a previous request rejected in 1948.

Finances

The FA's main commercial asset is its ownership of the rights to England internationals and the FA Cup. Broadcasting income remains the FA's largest revenue stream with both domestic and international broadcasting rights for England fixtures and the FA Cup tied up until at least 2021.
For the four seasons from 2008 to 2012, the FA secured £425 million from ITV and Setanta for England and FA Cup games domestic television rights, a 42% increase over the previous contract, and £145 million for overseas television rights, up 272% on the £39 million received for the previous four-year period. However, during 2008–09 Setanta UK went into administration, which weakened the FA's cashflow position.
Turnover for the year ending 31 July 2016 was £370 million on which it made a profit after tax of £7 million. It has also made an investment of £125 million back into every level of Football in 2016. In July 2015 the FA announced plans to carry out a significant organisational restructure, in order to deliver considerable cost savings to invest in elite England teams, facilities and grassroots coaching.
The FA's income does not include the turnover of English football clubs, which are independent businesses. As well as running its own operations the FA chooses five charities each year to which it gives financial support.
During the last three years, the FA received £350,000 in fines from players over comments made on Twitter, the most recent fine being a £25,000 to Rio Ferdinand. The highest fine given during the last three years was a £90,000 fine to Ashley Cole in 2012 after calling the FA "a bunch of twats." The FA has been more and more strict on comments made by players on Twitter, as the FA has disciplined 121 players overall in the last three years.

Competitions

The FA also runs several competitions:
The FA has a figurehead President, who since 1939 has always been a member of the British Royal Family. The Chairman of the FA has overall responsibility for policy. Traditionally this person rose through the ranks of the FA's committee structure. In 2008 politician David Triesman was appointed as the FA's first "independent chairman", the first from outside the football hierarchy. The day-to-day head of the FA was known as the Secretary until 1989, when the job title was changed to Chief Executive.
OfficeNameTenure
PresidentArthur Pember1863–1867
PresidentE.C. Morley1867–1874
PresidentSir Francis Marindin1874–1890
PresidentLord Kinnaird1890–1923
PresidentSir Charles Clegg1923–1937
PresidentWilliam Pickford1937–1939
PresidentThe Earl of Athlone1939–1955
PresidentThe Duke of Edinburgh1955–1957
PresidentThe Duke of Gloucester1957–1963
PresidentThe Earl of Harewood1963–1971
PresidentThe Duke of Kent1971–2000
PresidentThe Duke of York2000–2006
PresidentThe Duke of Cambridge2006–present
ChairmanCharles Clegg1890–1937
ChairmanA. G. Hines1938
ChairmanM. Frowde1939–1941
ChairmanAmos Brook Hirst1941–1955
ChairmanArthur Drewry1955–1961
ChairmanGraham Doggart1961–1963
ChairmanJoe Mears1963–1966
ChairmanAndrew Stephen1967–1976
ChairmanHarold Thompson1976–1981
ChairmanBert Millichip1981–1996
ChairmanKeith Wiseman1996–1999
ChairmanGeoff Thompson1999–2008
ChairmanDavid Triesman2008–2010
ChairmanDavid Bernstein2011–2013
ChairmanGreg Dyke2013–2016
ChairmanGreg Clarke2016–present
SecretaryE.C. Morley1863–1866
SecretaryR. W. Willis1866–1867
SecretaryR. G. Graham1867–1870
SecretaryCharles Alcock1870–1895
SecretaryFrederick Wall1895–1934
SecretaryStanley Rous1934–1962
SecretaryDenis Follows1962–1973
SecretaryTed Croker1973–1989
Chief executiveGraham Kelly1989–1998
Chief executiveAdam Crozier2000–2002
Chief executiveDavid Davies2002–2003
Chief executiveMark Palios2003–2004
Chief executiveDavid Davies2004–2005
Chief executiveBrian Barwick2005–2008
Chief executiveIan Watmore2009–2010
Chief executiveAlex Horne2010–2010
Chief executiveMartin Glenn2015–2019
Chief executiveMark Bullingham2019–present
General SecretaryAlex Horne2010–present
Executive DirectorDavid Davies1998–2000

Board of directors

Taken from The FA's website on 29 September 2017
National Game representatives:
Professional Game representatives:
Independent Non-Executive directors: