Amateur Football Alliance
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The Amateur Football Alliance is a County Football Association in England.
It is unusual among County FAs in not being based around a particular geographical area. It was founded in 1907, as the Amateur Football Defence Foundation, quickly changed to Amateur Football Association, when the FA required all county associations to admit professional clubs. Its aim was, as the decline of amateurism at the highest levels of football set in, to protect and preserve the original amateur spirit. It prides itself on the skill and competitiveness of its leagues, and on its traditions of fair play and respect for opponents and match officials. Many leagues still maintain local rules that require clubs to provide food and drink to their opponents and match officials after the match in a clubhouse or public house.
Two AFA clubs, Old Etonians and Old Carthusians, who currently play in the Arthurian League, have won the FA Cup. Past members of the AFA include Ipswich Town and Cambridge City. Also, Sir Stanley Rous, who became President of FIFA, was previously strongly involved with the AFA.
The AFA's heartland is in London and the Home Counties, but it has member clubs throughout the nation.
External links
- Official site (http://www.amateur-fa.com/)
- History from AFA Referees Society (http://www.afars.co.uk/history.htm)