The deadline for submitting affiliation forms this year is Monday, 4 July 2022.

Once submitted, Gloucestershire FA will review the information to check that the affiliation classification and cup entries are correct.  We aim to complete this within two working days of the submission.  When verified, invoice(s) will be generated (if required) to allow you to pay the fees on Whole Game using a credit or debit card.  Alternatively, you can print off the invoice and make payment by bank transfer or cheque.  If you are sending in a cheque, please ensure that it is clearly marked with your club’s name and invoice number(s).  Please do not send cash by post.

The deadline for payment of any invoices is within 14 days of the date of its issue.

On receipt of the payments and information that your club has the required insurance and satisfies FA Safeguarding criteria, a new affiliation number will be generated and appear on the Club’s Whole Game Dashboard.

Gloucestershire FA hopes that you will take up this opportunity to use Whole Game to affiliate your club(s) for the 2022/23 season.

national game Insurance scheme

In order to satisfy affiliation requirements, all Clubs must have Public Liability Insurance cover of at least £10 million which can be purchased via Whole game (see attached Bluefin Sport brochure).  Please remember that the Bluefin Sport CountyCover policy only covers teams playing at Step 5 (Hellenic and Toolstation Leagues) and below.  Clubs with teams playing at Step 4 (Southern League) and above of the FA football pyramid will be required to upload a certificate of cover as evidence that Public Liability Insurance is in place for 2022/23.

Bluefin CountyCover Legal Liability Insurance purchased through us will be £30. However, we suggest that Clubs take the opportunity to consider the additional Player-to-Player cover provided by the Bluefin CountyCover Plus policy. This is available at a £60 for the season. (Google - ‘Ossett Town Insurance’ to see what happened at this Club).

Club teams must also be members of a players’ Group Personal Accident Insurance (GPAI) scheme that must meet Gloucestershire FA’s minimum recommended levels of cover for adult and youth teams.  For the 2022/23 season, the minimum level of Personal Accident Insurance for Gloucestershire FA affiliated clubs is the ‘Intermediate’ Cover for adult teams and ‘Superior Gold’ Cover for Youth teams available from Bluefin Sport. 

The renewal of Bluefin Sport GPAI policies is now possible on-line.  If your club is not sent a renewal reminder by Bluefin Sport, GPAI will be available to purchase at www.bluefinsport.co.uk/ngis.

More details about the policies Bluefin Sport provides through the National Game Insurance Scheme are published here.

Benevolent Fund

The opportunity to donate to the GFA Benevolent Fund is available during the affiliation. The Fund provides limited financial support for Club members injured whilst participating in affiliated football and suffering financial hardship or loss. It is not a substitute for Personal Accident Insurance but can help make a difference. The suggested donation remains £10 per adult team and £10 per youth club. Clubs should note that the Trustees of the Fund are only able to support claims from Clubs that have donated to the Fund as part of the affiliation process each season.

County Cups

The system will recognise the cup competitions teams intended to take part in during the 2021/22 season.  Please refer to the attached ‘GFA  Adult Cup Classification’ guide to determine the correct competition your adult team should take part in during 2022/23.

Gloucestershire County League teams (Step 7) will now enter the Senior Amateur Cups.  North and South draws will take place and fixtures organised until four North and four South teams remain.  At this stage, both Cups will merge and the competition will be completed as a countywide Cup with one Final.

When selecting entry to GFA Cup competitions, either click the downward point arrow adjacent to the search box, or type in ‘Gloucestershire’ or the age group (e.g. ‘U14’) to start the search.

Please note that youth cups are played on Sundays and require teams to be classified with the correct format and gender as follows:-

U12 Boys – 9v9 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’

U13 Boys – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’

U14 Boys – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’

U15 Boys – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’

U16 Boys – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’

U18 Youth – 11v11 & ‘boys’ or ‘mixed’

Saturday and mid-week Youth teams will need to apply to support@gloucestershirefa.com to enter the Sunday competitions.

U12 Girls – 9v9 & ‘girls’

U13 Girls – 9v9 & ‘girls’

U14 Girls – 11v11 & ‘girls’

U15 Girls – 11v11 & ‘girls’

U16 Girls – 11v11 & ‘girls’

U18 Girls teams (non-mixed) are permitted to enter the GFA Women's Challenge Cup.

Safeguarding requirements

Clubs with Youth and/or Wheelchair teams should note the following mandatory FA Safeguarding criteria for Club Affiliation:-

• Club Secretary, Chair, Treasurer and Welfare Officer must all have completed the FA Safeguarding for Committee Members (SCM).  This free course can be accessed through the following link https://falearning.thefa.com/course/view.php?id=77.

• The Club Welfare Officer must also hold an in-date enhanced FA DBS check and have attended and completed the FA Safeguarding Children Course and FA Welfare Officer Workshop.

• All youth team (Under 18 and below) and wheelchair team managers and coaches are required to have an in-date, FA accepted, Disclosure and Barring Scheme (DBS) check at the point of affiliation.  Managers and Coaches can be named against youth teams without a FA DBS check, but affiliation cannot be approved by the County FA until they have an in-date DBS check (in line with FA regulations). Information for Clubs and individuals to follow to obtain DBS checks is published below.

• An individual cannot be a named manager/coach/assistant manager/assistant coach for more than four different youth teams within the same or different clubs.

• Adult Clubs that register 16 & 17 years olds during the 2022/23 season are reminder of the best practice that applies to them.  Please click here to view the guide.  This instruction will become mandatory at the start of the 2023/24 season. 

For more information about FA Safeguarding requirements, please refer to guidance published by The FA at //www.thefa.com/football-rules-governance/safeguarding