Founded in 1887, Hampshire FA is the governing body for all Football in Hampshire and is a non-profit making organisation. We are an Association of Member Divisional FA’s, Leagues and Clubs who represent all participants within the game in Hampshire.

In our early days, the Association operated under the guidance and influence of William Pickford, a former President of The Football Association and one of the individuals responsible for creating the Laws of Association Football. Pickford’s name is synonymous with football in Hampshire and the rest of the Country and his legacy in local football was commemorated in 1996 when the Hampshire FA named its new offices in Southampton after the inspirational journalist from Bournemouth. 

A former Hampshire FA county player from Southampton, Charlie “Nipper” Miller emigrated with his family to Brazil in 1894 armed with only a football, a pump and a County Handbook and went on to be a Founder Member of the first ever Club, Corinthians (still playing to this day and recent Brazilian Champions) and League in the South American Country. Miller is considered the father of football in Brazil, even more famous than Pele and Ronaldo, and his statue can be found in Sao Paolo Square. It is quite amazing that two of the most extraordinary gentleman responsible for laying the foundations in World football, both have roots leading back to Hampshire FA.

Since breaking away from the South Hants & Dorset FA in 1887, Hampshire FA has grown from an Association with a very small number of clubs with a Honorary Secretary operating from his home, to a business with over half a million people involved in football every weekend during the season. Nowadays, the Hampshire FA employs a professional team of over 60 people led by Chief Executive, Neil Cassar, underpinned by a volunteer workforce in excess of 250,000 enables the Association to undertake its duties.

On 1 July 2000 the Association was incorporated and Directors were appointed with responsibility for business and financial matters, leaving the traditionally elected Council, through a number of Standing Committees, to retain full responsibility for all football related activities.

Traditionally, the conventional side of the business, Governance, Competitions and Referees, used to be what County Football Associations were all about but much as changed since incorporation.

Through FA investment in the early 2000’s a development department was established with a focus initially on coach education but this then led to football within schools and club development. Safeguarding courses were established in 2001 due to some high priority cases nationally, this led to a full time county welfare officer being appointed.  The importance of this has grown significantly and due to national reviews and regular audits we now have a dedicated team working to ensure young people are kept safe. The development department was expanded to develop further pathways for female players, disability players and opportunities for wider inclusion.  This investment has reaped dividends with a massive increase in youth football and a widening of opportunities for all.

The Football Foundation was also launched in the early 2000’s leading to investment locally to make changing rooms fit for purpose and the establishment of 3G pitches. As 3G pitches became established for training and matches it became apparent that the income from this type of facility could lead to sustainable facilities including supporting the development of grass pictures. This led to the development of hub sites and Hampshire FA saw the opportunity to broaden their role and become a facility operator.

With the move to Winklebury,  away from the offices in Southampton,  due to the facility being over used we raised funds to develop a 3G on the site. Around the same time in 2017 we saw the opportunity to tender and operate Front Lawn in Havant. This gave us the stepping stone to also tender for operations of the hub sites being developed at Southampton (Stoneham Lane in Eastleigh in 2019) and Portsmouth (KGV in Cosham). So as from 2024 we now oversee and operate 4 facilities with a combined total of seven 3G pitches and over 10 grass pitches with associated ancillary facilities and car parking.

As well as continuing to support the traditional areas of the game through the operations department we now have a thriving development department, a services department that is responsible for safeguarding, facilities development, marketing and communications and commercial partnerships. Last and by no means least we have the largest County FA facility operations teams in the country serving thousands of users every week. We have come a long way in our 138 year history!