The Norfolk County Football Association is the governing body for football in the county of Norfolk, England.
History and Organisation
Norfolk County Football Association was founded in 1881 and has been administering football in the County, at both grass roots and professional level, for over 120 years.
For most of this time the work has been carried out on an honorary basis, however funding support from The Football Association led to the association becoming administered by a full-time secretariat in 1996.
On 24 August 1999 the association became a limited company, again at the behest of The Football Association. Since then The FA has taken a far greater interest in County Associations, working in partnership to provide increased sums of money to support new initiatives and staffing.
Since becoming a limited company, the structure of the association has changed significantly. The council oversees the implementation of policy through its committee structure in ‘football’ matters, including in the areas of Competitions, Discipline and Referees. The Board of Directors has responsibility for Financial and Commercial matters, whilst the staff at County Headquarters is responsible for implementing the decisions made by the two groups.
The association acquired the leasehold of a purpose built football facility in Bowthorpe, Norwich in 2009 – the site becoming known as the Norfolk County FA Football Development Centre, or 'the FDC'. The Centre is a hub of both regulated and recreational activity for the football community of Norwich and Norfolk, offering a range of small sided and full sizes football facilities.[1]
The work of the County Football Association is underpinned by an army of volunteers involved within the County's member leagues and clubs. Without their contribution, it would be impossible to organise and run football on the scale it is enjoyed in Norfolk today.[2]
Football Development
Norfolk County FA’s Football Development team works towards improving every aspect of the grassroots game. Their day to day involvement includes:
Developing and assisting local clubs towards the achievement of Charter Standard awards
Developing volunteers through a wide variety of coach, medical and refereeing courses
Developing facilities by working in conjunction with funding bodies such as The Football Foundation
Developing football amongst children through involvement with schools and education programmes [3]
A number of leagues that were affiliated to the Norfolk County FA have disbanded or amalgamated with other leagues including:
Aldred League (forerunner of the Great Yarmouth and District League)
Catton and District League (now part of the Central and South Norfolk League)
Comrades League (a league that operated in the Great Yarmouth area during the latter part of World War I)
Dereham and District League (now part of the Central and South Norfolk League)
East Anglian League (amalgamated with the Norfolk and Suffolk League in 1964 to become the Anglian Combination)
Great Yarmouth & District Saturday League
Great Yarmouth Sunday League
Great Yarmouth Borough League
Norfolk and Suffolk League (amalgamated with the East Anglian League in 1964 to become the Anglian Combination)
Norfolk Youth Football Combination League (amalgamated with the North East Norfolk Youth League and South Norfolk Youth League to become the Norfolk Combined Youth Football League)
North East Norfolk Youth League (amalgamated with the South Norfolk Youth League and Norfolk Youth Football Combination League to become the Norfolk Combined Youth Football League)
Norwich and District Saturday League (now part of the Central and South Norfolk League)
Norwich and South Norfolk District League (now part of the Central and South Norfolk League)
South Norfolk League
South Norfolk Youth League (amalgamated with the North East Norfolk Youth League and Norfolk Youth Football Combination League to become the Norfolk Combined Youth Football League)
Thetford and District Sunday Football League (now known as the Breckland and District Sunday Football League)
Thetford and District Youth League
Waveney Youth League
Affiliated Member Clubs
Among the notable clubs that are (or were at one time) affiliated to the Norfolk County FA are:
