Durham County Football Association

Durham County Football Association
Formation	1883
Purpose/focus	Football association
Headquarters	'Codeslaw' Riverside South
Location	Chester-le-Street County Durham DH3 3SJ
Company Secretary	John Topping
Website	durhamfa.com

The Durham County Football Association (also simply known as the Durham FA) is the governing body of football in the County Durham, including Darlington, Gateshead, Hartlepool, South Tyneside, Stockton-on-Tees, and Sunderland. The Durham FA was founded on 25 March, 1883^[1] and is the governing body for football in Durham from grass roots to professional level. They also run a number of cups for teams of all levels across the county, leagues for under-18, under-21 and ladies teams, and an under-18 representative team.

History

In 1879 the joint Durham and Northumberland Football Association was founded and they stayed that way until 1883 when increasing numbers and travel problems for the clubs necessitated a change. On May 11, 1883, 40 clubs met in the Alexandra Hotel in Newcastle and voted to form an independent body known as the Northumberland Football Association. The Durham clubs followed suit holding a meeting at the Three Tuns Hotel, Durham City, on May 25, 1883. The nine clubs who were represented at that meeting formed the Durham County Football Association.

In its second season 18 clubs took part in the Durham Challenge Cup, the only county cup competition in the country at that time. On the 125 year anniversary in 2007-08, the association organised 11 county cup competitions at various levels and a total of 988 clubs participated. The association now has 2,386 teams and 1,055 referees affiliated and also has a staff of 13, who deal with all issues relating to governance and development of football within the county. In 1883, the staff consisted of a part-time honorary secretary.

The association opened its first rented office at 10 Tenters Terrace, Durham City, on 1st October 1913. In June 1923, it purchased Codeslaw, The Avenue, Durham City, to provide “an office, meeting rooms and residence for the secretary”. In 1971, the association moved to larger offices at The Sands, Durham City, which were officially opened by its then President, Arthur Askew. Owing to an increase in staff, another move was required and a custom-built suite of offices was erected at The Riverside, Chester-le-Street, which were officially opened on June 9, 2005 by the association’s president, Frank Pattison, and the chairman of The Football Association, Geoffrey Thompson.^[2]

Development

Durham County FA supports clubs, leagues, and the education sector to up skill the football workforce to ensure, through engaging key partners, that high quality football experiences are available to all regardless of sex, race, disability, geographical location and playing ability.

Durham County FA continues to lead on core football development across the County and engages with external Football Development Officers to deliver a coordinated approach to increasing participation and raising standards. The strengthening of existing partnerships and the creation of new partnerships during 2008-2012 will enable the County FA to focus on its core football development work whilst broadening access through a collaborative approach. ^[3]

Governance

The work of the Governance department involves the day to day running of the County Football Association. The main functions are to provide assistance and advice in all administration matters relating to leagues, cups, clubs, discipline, referees and answer any other general football related queries. ^[4]

Affiliated Leagues

Men's Saturday Leagues Wearside League Crook and District League Darlington Church and Friendly League Durham Alliance League Tyne and Wear Business Houses League Wearside Combination League Ladies and Girls Leagues Durham County Women's League Durham County Council Girls Mini Soccer League Tyne Tees Girls Youth League

Men's Sunday Leagues Consett and District Sunday League Durham and District Sunday League Darlington Sunday Morning Invitation League Hartlepool Sunday League Peterlee and District Sunday League Spennymoor Sunday League Sunderland Sunday League Wear Valley Sunday League Other Leagues Durham Emergency Services League Sunderland and District Sunderland Steels Social Club Over 40s League

Youth Leagues Durham County Under 21s Saturday League Durham County Under 18s League Gateshead Youth League Hartlepool Street League South Tyneside Youth League Tyne and Wear Youth League Small Sided Leagues Champion Soccer - Hartlepool (Monday) & (Thursday) Champion Soccer - South Shields (Monday) Power League - Gateshead Sassco.co.uk 6-a-side League - Sunderland

Disbanded or Amalgamated Leagues

Leagues that were affiliated to the Durham County FA but have disbanded or amalgamated with other leagues include:

• Auckland and District League (also known as Bishop Auckland and District League)
• Barnard Castle and District League
• Chester-le-Street and District League
• Darlington and District League
• Durham Central League
• Gaunless Valley League
• Houghton and District League
• Jarrow and District Junior League
• Mid Durham League
• Seaham and District League
• South Durham League
• Stanley and District League
• Stanley and District Sunday League
• Stockton League
• Sunderland & District Nonconformist & Brotherhood League (now known as Wearside Combination League)
• Washington and District League (known as the Durham Alliance League from 1996)

Affiliated Member Clubs

Among the notable clubs that are (or at one time were) affiliated to the Durham County FA are:

Billingham Synthonia Billingham Town Birtley Town Bishop Auckland Brandon United Chester-le-Street Town Cleator Moor Celtic Cockfield (now defunct) Consett Craghead United (now defunct) Crook Town Darlington

Darlington Railway Athletic Dunston Federation Brewery Durham City Easington Colliery Esh Winning Gateshead Hartlepool United Hebburn Horden Colliery Welfare Jarrow Roofing Leadgate Park (now defunct) Murton

Newton Aycliffe Norton & Stockton Ancients Peterlee Town Prudhoe Town Ryhope Colliery Welfare Seaham Red Star Shildon South Shields Spennymoor Town Spennymoor United (now defunct) Stockton (now defunct)

Sunderland Sunderland Albion (now defunct) Sunderland Nissan (now defunct) Sunderland RCA Tow Law Town Washington West Auckland Town West Hartlepool (now defunct) West Stanley (now defunct) Whickham Willington

County Cup Competitions

The Durham County FA run the following Cup Competitions:

Durham County Challenge Cup Durham County Trophy Competition Durham County Minor Cup Competition Durham County Sunday Cup Competition

Durham County Under 18s Sunday Cup Competition Durham County Bill Upsall Youth Minor Cup Competition Durham County Under 14s Cup Competition Durham County Tesco Under 13 Cup Competition

Durham County Under 12s Cup Competition Durham County Womens County Cup Competition Durham County Youth Cup Competition

Source^[5]

County Cup Winners

Competition	Winners (2010-11)
Durham County Challenge Cup	Gateshead Reserves
Durham County Trophy	Hebburn Reyrolle
Durham County Minor Cup	Sunderland Redhouse
Durham County Youth Cup	Gateshead Under 18s

Source^[6]

Directors and Officials

Directors F.D. Pattison R. Strophair T. Harvey P.Maguire R.Coleman G. Charlton K. Clark J. Sinclair J.C. Topping[7]

Key Officials J.C. Topping (Company Secretary) Mrs T. Lavery (Office Manager) Chris Smith (County Development Manager)[8]

References

1. ^ "Durham FA - About Us". Durham FA. http://www.durhamfa.com/aboutus. Retrieved 2008-09-17. 
2. ^ "Team's Work- The magazine of the Durham County FA Ltd – Issue 1 - Summer 2008 Edition". Durham County FA. http://www.durhamfa.com/NR/rdonlyres/86C4C56F-2747-480A-903F-D02B42B9345B/0/TeamsWorkAug08.pdf. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
3. ^ "Durham County FA – Development". Durham County FA. http://www.durhamfa.com/Development/. Retrieved 2011-06-20. 
4. ^ "Durham County FA – Governance". Durham County FA. http://www.durhamfa.com/Governance/. Retrieved 2011-06-20. 
5. ^ "Durham County FA – Fixtures & Results - County Cups". Durham County FA. http://www.durhamfa.com/FixturesAndResults/CountyCups/. Retrieved 2011-06-20. 
6. ^ "Durham County FA – Fixtures & Results - County Cups". Durham County FA. http://www.durhamfa.com/FixturesAndResults/CountyCups/. Retrieved 2011-06-20. 
7. ^ "Durham County FA – About Us - Directors of The Durham County FA Ltd". Durham County FA. http://www.durhamfa.com/AboutUs/Directors/. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 
8. ^ "Durham County FA – About Us - Staff of The Durham County FA Ltd". Durham County FA. http://www.durhamfa.com/AboutUs/Staff/. Retrieved 2011-06-18. 

External links

• Durham FA official website