Royal Air Force Football

Royal Air Force (County) FA HQ

Royal Air Force (County) FA HQ
RAF Brize Norton
Carterton
Oxfordshire
OX18 3LX

Tel: 01993 895559 / 895989
Fax: 01993 897752
Email: info@royalairforcefa.com

The Royal Air Force (County) FA HQ was established in June 2006, at RAF Brize Norton, after the Football Association agreed to provide funding to support 2 x full time and 1 x part time members of staff.

The Headquarters were set up as part of the RAF FA's Football Transformation Project to develop the grass roots of RAF Football.

The offices are now the central focal point of all Royal Air Force football matters and great progress has been made over the past few months.

The main aim of the RAF FA HQ staff is to promote and assist football development and efficiency of football administration within the Royal Air Force. This is primarily achieved by way of organising and running coaching courses, refereeing courses, medical courses, having conduit representation with the Football Association and offering support to Officer's in Charge of Football (OIC'S) at station level as well as working with the various RAF FA committees such as representative teams, coaching, refereeing, discipline and sponsorship.

The Royal Air Force (County) FA HQ deals with all football matters at stations within the UK and abroad, including, Cyprus, Germany, Belgium and Falkland Islands and works closely with the other Armed Forces Associations (Royal Navy FA and Army FA).

The staff at the Royal Air Force (County) FA HQ are

Football Liaison Officer

Vince Williams took up the position of Football Liaison Officer with the RAF FA in October 2006. Vince previously spent 16 years at Farnborough Town Football Club and has built up a large network of contacts within the football industry.
During his time at Farnborough Town Football Club Vince held a number of roles including Football Secretary and General Manager, picked up the club's Chairman's Trophy on three occassions and has sat on disciplinary panels for the Football Conference.
The Non-League Paper voted Vince 'Unsung Hero' in 2004 and also 'Administrator of the Year' in 2007.
Vince's role with the RAF FA includes overseeing and responsibility of liaising and compliance with the FA and administrative support accross all RAF football sections.
Married with two children Vince is also a Watford supporter.

Football Development Officer

John Duff (MBE) became the first full time Football Development Officer (FDO) in the Royal Air Force following on his discharge from the Royal Air Force in June 2006. Although John is directly employed by RAFFA his post is 100% funded by the FA HQ in London.
John joined the RAF in 1968, during his long career he had a total of 13 postings, including two overseas tours in Germany and one in Gibraltar. John spent the last 4 years of his career as the SWO at RAF Brize Norton. Throughout his career John has always been heavily involved in RAF football either as a player, coach, manager, referee or administrator. In 1995 he was appointed OIC Football at Brize Norton. In 1998 he was also appointed as the Fixture Secretary of the RAF London League, he only relinquished both positions on his discharge. John has witnessed the decline in RAF football in recent year’s, he is hoping to reverse this decline by creating more opportunities for individuals to be able to participate in football so that football continues to be the number one participation sport within the RAF.

Football Development Assistant

Sheila Haining completed the team at RAF FA HQ when she became Football Development Assistant in November 2006.
Has previously been involved in setting up and running soccer schools at RAF Akrotiri (Cyprus) with her husband Mark who is a UEFA 'B' qualified coach and Level 1 qualified coach educator.

Sheila's role involves administration support to all aspects of football development within the RAF including circulating details of courses, arranging accomodation and maintaining the County databases.