Devon County Football Association
![]() Devon County FA logo | |
Purpose | Football association |
---|---|
Location | |
Coordinates | 50°31′21″N 3°36′23″W / 50.522472°N 3.6064875°W |
Bernard Leach | |
Website | http://www.devonfa.com/ |
The Devon County Football Association, also simply known as the Devon F.A., is the governing body of football in the county of Devon. The Devon F.A. was founded in 1888 in Plymouth.[1]
They run a number of league and cup competitions for teams of all levels across the county, and representative teams for Senior Ladies, Under 18 Men and Under 18 Ladies.[2]
History
[edit]The Devon County Football Association was formed in 1888 at a meeting held in the pavilion of Plymouth Cricket Club, South Devon Place, which is now the Astor Playing Fields at Cattedown. The founding clubs were:
- Plymouth F.C.
- Plymouth United
- Argyle FC
- Plymouth College
- Newton
- Carlton Oaks
- Tavistock Grammar School
- Mannamead School
Initially the County F.A. established a set of rules for members and oversaw friendlies and inter county representative matches. The first County Representative match took place in March 1888 at Weston-super-Mare against Somerset County F.A. where they were defeated by two goals to nil. The return fixture in April also ended in a defeat by two goals to three. In 1889, the County Cup competition, the Challenge Cup, was inaugurated. The first winners were Tavistock Town who defeated Plymouth FC in the final.[1]
Leagues
[edit]Devon is one of the largest County F.A.'s by geographic area. There are five affiliated Saturday men's leagues, one Women's league, four Sunday leagues and a Wednesday league. They are:
Saturday
- Plymouth and West Devon Combination Football League
- South Devon League
- North Devon League
- Devon and Exeter League
- Kingsley League (in recess)
Women's
- Devon Women's League
Sunday
- Exeter and District Sunday League
- Torbay Sunday League
- North Devon Sunday League
- Plymouth and West Devon Sunday League
- Devon Wednesday League
Additionally there are 8 Junior Boy's leagues and one Girl's league. Affiliated clubs also play in other Football Association and Football League competitions. These include the three senior clubs that play in Football League Two (as of 2013) of Plymouth Argyle, Exeter City and Torquay United.
County Cups
[edit]The Devon St Lukes Challenge Cup is the premier county knockout cup competition.[3] The full list is:
- St Lukes Challenge Cup
- Devon Premier Cup
- Devon Senior Cup
- Devon Intermediate Cup
- Devon Veterans Cup
- Devon Midweek Cup
- Devon Sunday Supplementary Cup
- Devon Under 13 Boys Cup
- Devon Under 14 Boys Cup
- Devon Under 15 Boys Cup
- Devon Under 16 Boys Cup
- Devon Under 18 Youth Cup
- Devon Women's Senior Cup
- Devon Women's Supplementary Cup
- Devon Under 13 Girls Cup
- Devon Under 15 Girls Cup
- Devon Under 16 Girls Cup
Notable former players
[edit]- Ollie Watkins: Aston Villa and England national football team footballer.[4]
- Sam Gallagher: Blackburn Rovers footballer.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "The History of Devon County Football Association". devonfa.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
- ^ "Representative Sides". Devon County Football Association. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ "Devon FA Handbook 2021". Flipbox. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "My journey: Ollie Watkins on how he went from Newton Town to playing for England". England Football.
- ^ "My journey: Ollie Watkins on how he went from Newton Town to playing for England". England Football.
External links
[edit]