The Football Association

The Football Association

UEFA
File:FA crest.png
Founded	1863
Headquarters	England
FIFA affiliation	1905
UEFA affiliation	1954
President	Prince William of Wales
Website	https://thefa.com/

The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. The FA has a unique place in the history of football.

Overview

The FA is a member of UEFA and FIFA, and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB). Unlike other national football associations, it does not take the national name (ie. English) in its title (compared to the Scottish Football Association, for example).

All of England's professional football clubs are members of the Football Association. The FA is responsible for the appointment of the management of the England men's and women's national teams and the organization of the FA Cup (the nation's most prestigious cup competition). Although it does not run the day-to-day operations of the country's top league, 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 Football League, England's second tier league, consisting of The Championship, League One and League Two, is self-governing.

The game is controlled at the local level, by 43 County Football Associations affiliated to The Football Association but with responsibilities for organising and running football activities in their area. The Jersey, Guernsey, and Isle of Man Football Associations are organised as County Football Associations below the FA. A hierarchy of leagues operates throughout the game, each taking responsibility for the administration of their own activities, such as membership, fixtures and registrations.

The FA owns and runs both Wembley Stadium and the National Football Centre (The National Football Centre is currently under construction with a target for completion set for 2010).

History

For centuries before the first meeting of the Football Association in the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London on 26 October 1863, there were no universally accepted rules for playing football. 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 Cambridge University 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.

Twelve London football clubs met in 1862 to agree common rules. The founding clubs present at the first meeting were Barnes, Civil Service, Crusaders, Forest of Leytonstone (later to become Wanderers) , N.N. (No Names) Club (Kilburn), the original Crystal Palace, Blackheath, Kensington School, Percival House (Blackheath), 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.

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 1862. In 1863, as captain of the Mortlake-based club, he wrote to Bell's Life newspaper proposing a governing body for the sport that led to the first meeting at the Freemason's Tavern that created the FA. He was the FA's first secretary (1863-6) and its second president (1867-74) and drafted the Laws of football that determine the way the game is played internationally today at his home in Barnes, London. As a player, he played in the first ever match in 1863. He is, therefore, considered the father of Association Football.

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. 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 (kicking an opponent in the shins), 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.

An inaugural game using the new FA rules was initially scheduled for Battersea Park on 2 January 1864, but enthusiastic members of the FA couldn't wait for the new year and an experimental game was played at Mortlake on 19 December 1863 between Morley's Barnes team and their neighbours Richmond (who were not members of the FA), 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 postponed for a week, and the first exhibition game using FA rules 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 (A. Pember) and the Secretary (E. C. Morley) and included many well-known footballers of the day.

Finances

The FA's main commercial asset is its ownership of the rights to England internationals and the FA Cup. Turnover for the year ending 31 December, 2007 was £237.9 million. The FA owns the new Wembley Stadium, which opened in 2006, via its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited. For the 4 seasons from 2008 to 2012, the FA has 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.

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 considerable financial support.

In November 2007, Radio 5 Live estimated the cost to the FA of non-qualification for Euro 2008 to be in the direct region of £5million, with loss of revenue to the UK economy likely to run into the billions.

Competitions

The FA also runs several competitions:

• FA Premier League
• FA Cup
• FA Trophy
• FA Vase
• FA Women's(skanks) Cup
• FA Women's Premier League Cup
• FA Livingston United Cup
• FA Sunday Cup
• FA County Youth Cup
• FA Community Shield
• FA National League System Cup
• FA Futsal Cup

Principals

The FA has a figurehead President, since 1939 always 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 (e.g. by holding posts such a the chairmanship of a county football association). In 2008 the politician Lord Triesman was appointed as the FA's first "independent chairman", that is 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.

Politicians

Office	Name	Start yeartime	End yeartime
President	Arthur Pember	1863	1867
	E. C. Morley	1867	1874
	Major Sir Francis Marindin	1874	1890
	Lord Kinnaird	1890	1923
	Sir Charles Clegg	1923	1937
	William Pickford	1937	1939
	The Earl of Athlone	1939	1955
	The Duke of Edinburgh	1955	1957
	The Duke of Gloucester	1957	1963
	The Earl of Harewood	1963	1971
	The Duke of Kent	1971	2000
	The Duke of York	2000	2006
	Prince William of Wales	May 2006
Chair	Sir Charles Clegg	1890	1937
	A. G. Hines	1938
	M. Frowde	1939	1941
	Sir Amos Brook Hirst	1941	1955
	Arthur Drewry	1955	1961
	Graham Doggart	1961	1963
	Joe Mears	1963	1966
	Sir Andrew Stephen	1967	1976
	Professor Sir Harold Thompson	1976	1981
	Sir Bert Millichip	1981	1996
	Keith Wiseman	1996	1999
	Geoff Thompson	1999	2008
	Lord Triesman	2008
Secretary	E. C. Morley	1863	1866
	R. W. Willis	1866	1868
	R. G. Graham	1868	1870
	Charles Alcock	1870	1895
	Sir Frederick Wall	1895	1934
	Sir Stanley Rous	1934	1962
	Sir Denis Follows	1962	1973
	E. A. Croker	1973	1989
Chief executive	Graham Kelly	1989	1998
	Adam Crozier	2000	2002
	Mark Palios	2003	2004
	Brian Barwick	2005
Executive Director	David Davies	1998	2000
Acting Chief Executive		2002	2003
		2004	2005

Main Board

• Chairman

Lord Triesgay

• Vice-Chairman & Kent FA

Barry soap +

• Chief Executive

Brian Bushwaka

• Devon FA

Dave Henson +

• Essex FA: Michael Game +
• Bolton Wanderers Chairman

Phil Gartside ^

• Manchester United Chief Executive

David Gill ^

• Gloucestershire FA

Roger Burden +

• Premier League Chairman

Sir Dave Richards ^

• Hampshire FA

John Ward +

• Ipswich Town Chairman

David Sheepshanks %

• Norwich City F.C. Chief Executive

Neil Doncaster %

Equations:

+ = National Game Representative

^ = Premier League Representative

% = Football League Representative

References

Print

• Green, Geoffrey (1954) The history of the Football Association, Naldrett Press
• Butler, B. (1991). The official history of the Football Association, Queen Anne Press, ISBN 0-356-19145-1

External links

• The FA official site
• Tom Bower Has the Blazer Brigade doomed football? Guardian July 2, 2005
• Royal Engineers Museum When the Royal Engineers won the FA Cup 1875