Formation | 1882 |
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Purpose | Football association |
Headquarters | 11, Hurlingham Business Park Sulivan Rd |
Location | |
David Fowkes | |
Website | londonfa.com |
The London Football Association is the regional Football Association for Greater London. The London FA was established in 1882 and is affiliated to The Football Association. The London FA administers all levels of men's, women's and junior football within its area, a circle 12 miles in radius with Charing Cross at the centre.
The London Football Association (LFA) is unique for the reason that it is the only one founded by The Football Association. While others were founded to organise football locally around the country, Charles Alcock and Lord Kinnaird, then Secretary and Chairman of The FA, created the London FA to deal with local clubs and competitions while the main body focused on the Laws of the Game and international football matters.
According to the Memorandum on Areas and Overlapping of Associations the London FA covers the area 12 miles from Charing Cross. The Association is ‘overlapped’ by a number of its colleague County FA ’s: Essex FA, Kent FA, Middlesex FA, Surrey FA and the Amateur Football Alliance.
The first Secretary was N.L. ‘Pa’ Jackson who was also serving on the FA Council. He was famous for founding the great Corinthians Football Club and is said to be the inventor of the international cap.
The London FA’s other claim to fame is that its representative team was the first ever English team to play in a European final, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final in 1958 where they lost over two legs to Barcelona.
It has had many headquarters since its foundation in 1882, including Paternoster Row, St. Mark’s College Chelsea, Finsbury Barracks, Leytonstone, Manor Park, Barking, and Lewisham. It even stayed temporarily at Upton Park and Highbury during the Second World War, having been bombed out of its previous homes. The current headquarters in Fulham were moved into in August 2004.