Gloucestershire County Football Association

51°32′55″N 2°34′15″W / 51.548606°N 2.570901°W / 51.548606; -2.570901David NealeWebsitegloucestershirefa.com

The Gloucestershire County Football Association, also simply known as the Gloucestershire FA or GFA, is the governing body of football in the county of Gloucestershire. It was formed in 1886.^[1]

History

The Gloucestershire County Football Association has developed from small beginnings in 1886 into an Association of more than 2000 affiliated teams and 20 affiliated Leagues. Key dates in the history of the Association are provided below:

1886: At a meeting in the Full Moon Hotel, Stokes Croft, Bristol on 7 September, the Gloucestershire Football Association was formed to be administered by a Management Committee. Gloucestershire’s first President was the famous cricketer Dr W.G. Grace who was also an active Referee.

1889–90: 33 Clubs had affiliated to the County, which enabled a delegate to be sent to the Football Association.

1892: The Association was running two Cup Competitions and playing five or six County matches a season with the first League commencing operations.

1898: The Association's Management Committee became the Council with representatives from 15 Clubs and a representative from each League affiliated to the Association.

1919–20: A major change in the structure of the Council occurred when Northern Council was formed from areas north of Thornbury. However all decisions still had to be sanctioned by the full Council.

1927: The County Minor (Youth) Association was formulated.

1933: The responsibilities of the County Minor Association were assumed by the Main Council.

1946: The County Youth Association was revived following its demise in 1933.

1967: Moves were made to form an entirely separate Council in the North. But at a meeting in December it was agreed that two separate Associations were impractical. The immediate result was that a joint annual meeting was introduced in addition to the A.G.M.

1976: The last independent North and South Council meetings took place and in 1977 the Council again became a unified body.

1995: Following the sudden death of the long serving Hon. Secretary E J Marsh, the County appointed Paul Britton as full- time Secretary and shortly afterwards purchased the property at Oaklands Park, Almondsbury as its first permanent Headquarters.

1999: The County took the significant step of becoming a Limited Company becoming known as Gloucestershire Football Association Ltd.

2000: The development of Oaklands Park that included the addition of a Floodlit All-Weather Pitch and new Dressing Rooms was completed. These facilities are now being extensively used for training groups from local junior clubs and disabled organisations.

2001: The development of the All-Weather Pitch and Dressing Rooms released capacity within the original building for the development of office space, a Board Room and Council Chamber.

2002: The County Youth Association ceased to be a semi- autonomous Association when it was incorporated into the main Association as the Youth Committee.

2006: David Neale was appointed Chief Executive following the death of Paul Britton in December 2005.^[2]

Oaklands Park

Oaklands Park was purchased by the Gloucestershire Football Association (GFA) for their new headquarters in 1994 after the existing owners Almondsbury Town FC was regretfully placed in the hands of the liquidator following a period of financial difficulties. Almondsbury Town FC became tenants at Oaklands Park in 1995 until May 2010, and in addition to using the pitch, the club were able to rent half of the building as a bar and skittle alley.

By 2009 the GFA established that they needed to take over this area for our their own use in order to cater for the increasing number of people employed by the Association in developing grassroots football. In addition to accommodating their staff, the GFA also needed training facilities to assist the development of clubs, coaches and referees.

The situation has eventually led to the demise of Almondsbury Town FC who in April 2011 announced that they were withdrawing from Zamaretto League's 2011–12 season and disbanding the first team citing failure to find a ground share as the main cause.^[3] In response the GFA released a statement advising that it was Almondsbury Town's decision to leave Oaklands Park, originally in April 2010, that prompted them to find new tenants and that an agreement had been struck with Winterbourne United and Roman Glass St George in October of that same year.^[4]

The situation has resulted in damaging publicity for the GFA in the local press.^[3] The Association have reiterated that their "main purpose as an organisation is to drive increased participation in football. As a direct result of the Oaklands Park refurbishment programme, (they) were able to host a team of four FA Tesco Skills Coaches". The GFA expressed disappointment that the club were unsuccessful in their discussions with other parties.^[5]

Affiliated Leagues

Small Sided Leagues

Disbanded or Amalgamated Leagues

A number of leagues that were affiliated to the Gloucestershire FA have disbanded or amalgamated including:

• Bristol Avon League (not to be confused with Bristol & Avon League)
• Bristol Church of England League (now known as Bristol & Avon League)
• Bristol Regional League (Saturday Competition)
• Bristol Wednesday League
• Dursley and District League
• Dursley and Wotton League
• Gloucester and District League
• Iron Acton and District League
• Forest of Dean League
• Mid Gloucestershire League
• Wotton and District League

Affiliated Member Clubs

Among the notable clubs that are affiliated to the Gloucestershire FA are:

Lists of Gloucestershire FA cup and trophy winners

Gloucestershire Senior Professional Cup

The Senior Professional Cup, initially known as the Challenge Cup and later as the Senior Challenge Cup, was held 99 times between 1888 and 1996. Founded in 1887, it was originally a knockout tournament for all teams affiliated to the Gloucestershire County Football Association, but after a few years became dominated by Bristol City and Bristol Rovers to such an extent that the format of the competition was changed in 1907 to be an annual match between those two clubs. A list of the winners is shown in the table below.

Club	Wins	First win	Last win
Bristol City	54	1898	1996
Bristol Rovers	28	1889	1994
Warmley	4	1892	1897
Bedminster	2	1891	1900
St George	2	1894	1895
Clifton Association	2	1888	1890

Challenge Trophy

Source^[7]

Senior Amateur Challenge Cup (South)

Sources^[8][9]

Senior Amateur Challenge Cup (North)

Source^[9]

Lower tier County Cup (South)

Season	Junior (South) Winners	Intermediate (South) Winners	Minor (South) Winners	Primary (South) Winners
2000–01	Totterdown United	Langton Court Rangers	Brimsham Green Res.	Mendip Gate
2001–02	Longshore	Longwell Green Sports Res.	Alveston Rangers	Winterbourne United ‘A’
2002–03	Lawrence Rovers	Sea Mills Park Res.	Soundwell Victoria	Ridings High 'A'
2003–04	TC Sports	Cadbury Heath ‘A’	Shaftesbury Crusade Res.	Lawrence Rovers Res.
2004–05	Patchway Town Res.	Soundwell Victoria	AXA ‘A’	Eden Grove
2005–06	Talbot Knowle	Southmead Athletic	Shirehampton ‘A’	Bristol Sanctuary
2006–07	Lawrence Rovers	AFC Bohemia	Brislington Cricketers	Inter The Bloomfield
2007–08	Wessex Wanderers	Winterbourne United ‘A’	Bristol Sanctuary XI	Broad Walk FC Res.
2008–09	Lawrence Rovers	Hanham Athletic ‘A’	Broadwalk Reserves	Southmead CS (Saturday)
2009–10	Ashley	Eden Grove	St Georges Rangers	Real Thornbury
2010–11	Brislington Cricketers	Bradley Stoke Town	St Philip & Jacob (Pip n Jay)	Carmel
2011–12	Crosscourt United	Portville Warriors	Real Thornbury	Broadlands
2012–13	Stockwood Wanderers	Real Thornbury	Old Cliftonians	Sartan United (Saturday)
2013–14	Real Thornbury	Bristol Bilbao	Thornbury Baptist Church	Stapleton Reserves
2014–15	Talbot Knowle United	North Bristol United	Woodlands Rangers	Winford PH Reserves
2015–16	Stapleton	Hillfields Old Boys	Thornbury Baptist Church	De Veys Reserves

Sources^[10][9]

Lower tier County Cup (North)

Season	Junior (North) Winners	Intermediate (North) Winners	Minor (North) Winners	Primary (North) Winners
2000–01	Tetbury Town	Cam Bulldogs	Phoenix United	Hillesley Utd.
2001–02	Charfield	Taverners Res.	Down Ampney	Aylburton Res.
2002–03	Berkeley Town	Patriots	Aylburton	Marshall Langston
2003–04	Longlevens	G.A.L.A. Wilton	Adlestrop D & O	Ramblers Res.
2004–05	G.A.L.A. Wilton	Moreton Town	Woodmancote	Worral Hill
2005–06	Ramblers	Lydbrook Athletic	Stratton Wanderers	AC Olympia
2006–07	Barnwood Utd	AFC Bohemia	Tewkesbury Dynamos	Newnham Utd
2007–08	FC Barometrics	Kingswood Res.	Tewkesbury Rovers	Didmarton
2008–09	Frampton United	Bibury	Charlton Rovers Res.	C & G
2009–10	Marshall Langston	FC Barometrics	C & G	Bush
2010–11	Minsterworth	Whitecroft	Whaddon Utd	F C Lakeside
2011–12	Bibury	Huntley	Upton St Leonards Reserves	Vinney St Swithins Reserves
2012–13	Avonvale United	FC Lakeside	Tuffley Rovers 'A'	The Village
2013–14	Southside	Charfield	Alkerton Rangers	Levkhampton Rovers Reserves
2014–15	Longlevens	Ellwood Reserves	Northway	Fintan Reserves
2015–16	Stroud Harriers	Chalford Reserves	Mushet & Coalway	South Cerney Reserves

Sources^[10][9]

Women's competitions

Season	GFA Women's Trophy		GFA Women's Challenge Cup
	Winners	Runners-up	Winners	Runners-up
2018–19	Cheltenham Town	Frampton Rangers	Cirencester Town	Cheltenham Town Under-18s
2017-18	St Nicholas	Cheltenham Town	Cotswold Rangers	Mitcheldean
2016-17	Cheltenham Town	St Nicholas Reserves	Frampton Rangers	Stoke Lane Athletic
2015-16	Forest Green Rovers	Cheltenham Town	Abbeymead Rovers	Mangotsfield United
2014-15	Forest Green Rovers	Bristol Ladies Union	Bristol Ladies Union Development	Abbeymead Rovers
2013-14	Forest Green Rovers	Bristol Ladies Union	St Nicholas	Cheltenham Town Development
2012-13	Bristol Academy	Downend Flyers
2011-12	Stroud & South Gloucestershire College Filton	Gloucester City
2010-11	Stroud & South Gloucestershire College Filton	Downend Flyers
2009-10	Stroud & South Gloucestershire College Filton	Forest Green Rovers
2008-09	Forest Green Rovers	Cheltenham Town
2007-08	Filton College Academy	Forest Green Rovers

Directors & Officials

Board of directors

• Roy Schafer (Chairman)
• Graham Papworth (Finance Director)
• David Neale (Chief Executive)
• Sue Henson-Green
• Nigel Newport-Black
• Mohamed Patel
• Clive Rawlings
• Suzette Davenport
• Errol Thompson

Key Officials

• David Neale (Chief Executive)
• Matthew Boucher (Football Development Manager)
• Chris Lucker (Football Services Manager)^[11]
• Roger Vaughan (Referee Development and Equality Officer)

References

External links

• Gloucestershire FA's official site
• 5aside football's official site