The Lancashire County Football Association, also known simply as the Lancashire FA, is the governing body of football within the historical county boundaries of Lancashire, England. They are responsible for the governance and development of football at all levels in the county.
History and organisation The Lancashire County FA was formed on 28 September 1878 at a meeting held one Saturday afternoon in the parlour of The Volunteer Inn, Bromley Cross.
The LFA runs a number of different cup competitions catering for the various levels of football played throughout the county, which is based on the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, before the 1974 county boundary re-organisation, rather than the current administrative county boundaries and so includes Barrow-in-Furness to the north and Manchester, Rochdale, Oldham and Liverpool to the south. Warrington, historically part of Lancashire, is not administered by the Lancashire FA and is instead covered by the Cheshire FA. The administrative area covered by the Lancashire County FA overlaps with areas covered by Manchester FA and Liverpool FA. According to the Memorandum on Areas and Overlapping of Associations the Manchester FA covers the area 12 miles from Manchester Town Hall and is confined to Lancashire. The Liverpool FA covers 18 miles in Lancashire and 8 miles in Cheshire from Liverpool Town Hall. In addition in an agreement with the Cumberland FA the Lancashire FA received eight clubs in the South Cumberland area of Millom from the end of season 1969/70.
The county is divided into nine areas with each area having one member on the LFA Council. The divisions are as follows:
Division 1: Burnley – Pendle – Rossendale Division 2: Blackburn with Darwen – Hyndburn – Ribble Valley Division 3: Bolton Division 4: Bury – Rochdale Division 5: Chorley – Liverpool – West Lancashire Division 6: Preston – South Ribble – Blackpool – Fylde Division 7: Oldham – Manchester Division 8: Barrow – Lancaster – Wyre Division 9: St Helens – Wigan – Warrington
The Lancashire FA governs 100 leagues, 4,000 teams and 1,500 referees.
Lancashire County Schools team In the 2005–06 season the Lancashire County FA Schools team won the English Schools' Football Association Under-16 Inter County Trophy. In the semi-final held at Victoria Park, Burscough, Lancashire beat Leicestershire & Rutland County Schools FA 3–1. They then beat Devon County Schools FA 2–1 in the final which was held at Ewood Park in Blackburn on 11 May 2006.
County Ground The Lancashire FA are based at the County Ground, Thurston Road in Leyland. They moved their headquarters to the County Ground in 1998 from Blackburn.
The County Ground is the current home of Bolton Wanderers reserve team, who play in the Premier Reserve League and who, in the 2009–10 season, play in the North Division. The club also use the ground for all their home matches in the Manchester Senior Cup. The county representative team and county youth team also use the ground for home matches, and up until the 2009–2010 season County Cup finals were played at the County Ground. The ground has a 500-seater covered stand.
Facilities include an all-weather pitch as well as six corporate rooms, the largest of which, the Tom Finney Suite, can seat up to 100.
Affiliated Leagues
Men's Saturday Leagues Accrington Combination Blackburn and District Combination East Lancashire League Furness Premier League Lancashire League Lancashire Amateur League Mid Lancashire and District League North Lancashire & District Football League Rochdale Alliance League SportsReach League West Lancashire League
Ladies and Girls Leagues Lancashire FA Women's County League Lancashire Girls League West Lancashire Girls League
Other Leagues Bolton Sports Federation Over 35 Veterans League Lancashire Ability Counts Lancaster University Inter College Men’s League
Men's Sunday Leagues Blackburn Sunday League Blackpool and Fylde Sunday Alliance Burnley and District Sunday League Bury and District Sunday League Chorley Nissan Sunday League Harry Dewhurst Memorial Sunday League Middleton and District Sunday League Lancashire Evening Post Sunday League Ormskirk and District Sunday League Pendle Charity League Skelmersdale and District Sunday League South Lancashire Counties League
Small Sided Leagues Blackburn Community 7-a-side League Furness Futebol – Barrow-in-Furness Lancashire FA County 6ixes PSL Soccer Leagues Soccer Burnley 5's Soccer Sixes - Blackburn - Lancaster - Morecambe - Preton Leisure Leagues - Garstang - Longridge - Colne
Youth Leagues Lancashire FA Under 18 Floodlight League Accrington and District Junior League Barrow and District Junior League Blackpool and District Youth Bolton and Bury Junior Football League Bury & Radcliffe Junior League East Lancashire Alliance Craven Minor Junior League Central Lancashire Junior League Lancaster and Morecambe Service to Youth League Lune and District Junior League Mid Lancashire Colts Junior League North Bury Junior League North Valley Youth League Poulton and District Primary League Preston City Development League Rochdale and Oldham Youth League Skelmersdale Junior League Warburton Youth League Wigan & District Youth League
Disbanded Leagues
A number of leagues that were affiliated to the Lancashire FA have disbanded or amalgamated with other leagues including:
Lancashire Combination Bolton & District Amateur Combination Bolton Boys and Girls Federation Fylde District League Lancashire Palatine League Lancaster and Morecambe Grassroots Sunday League Leigh & District Amateur League Morecambe & Lancaster Sunday Football League Preston Churches League Blackburn & Darwen Junior League Hindley & District Junior League Hyndburn & District Boys League
Members
Full members There are 79 clubs who have full membership of the Lancashire FA. These are –
Accrington Stanley A.F.C. Blackpool A.F.C. Darwen AFC Fylde Ashton Athletic Atherton Collieries Atherton Laburnum Rovers Atherton Town BAC/EE/Springfields Bacup Borough BAE Systems Barrow Bamber Bridge Barrow Blackburn Rovers Blackpool Blackpool Wren Rovers Blackrod Town Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wyresdale Breightmet United Bridge Celtic FC, Adlington Burnley Burnley United Burscough Bury Charnock Richard Chorley Clitheroe Collegiate Old Boys Croston Sports Club Daisy Hill Dalton United Eagley Everton Fleetwood Town Fulwood Amateurs Golborne Sports Hesketh Bank Hesketh Casuals Hindsford Holker Old Boys Lancashire Constabulary Lancaster City Leigh Genesis Liverpool Lytham St. Annes & Fylde YMCA F.C. Manchester City Manchester United Marine Merseyside Police Mill Hill St. Peters Morecambe Nelson Norcross & Warbreck Old Blackburnians Old Boltonians Old Xaverians Oldham Athletic Oldham Hulmeians Padiham Poulton Town Preston North End Prestwich Heys Radcliffe Borough Ramsbottom United Rochdale Rochdale Town Rochdale St. Clements Rossendale United Skelmersdale United Southport Southport Trinity Squires Gate Tranmere Rovers Turton Walshaw Sports Whalley Range Wigan Athletic Woodbank Wyre Villa Wythenshawe Amateurs
Associate members Clubs who are associate members of the Lancashire FA include:-
Coppull United Euxton Villa Fleetwood Hesketh Freckleton Freehold Garstang Kendal Town The Pleasant Inn (Royton)
County Cups The Lancashire FA currently organises nineteen County Cup competitions.
CompetitionCurrent Sponsor2014-2015 HoldersLancashire FA Challenge Cup (Senior Cup)Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy (Junior Cup) The Co-operative GroupLancashire FA Professional Youth Cup(no sponsor)Preston North End F.C.Lancashire FA Amateur Shield(no sponsor)Coppull UnitedLancashire FA Amateur CupSharrocksBlessed SacramentLancashire FA Sunday TrophyMaxlocalPoulton YouthLancashire FA Women's Knock-Out CupNayler GroupBlackburn Rovers LadiesLancashire FA Under-18 Youth Cup(no sponsor)Ulverston Rangers Juniors U18Lancashire FA Under-16 Youth CupRigby TaylorAston U16Lancashire FA Under-15 Youth Cup(no sponsor)Myerscough College J.F.D.C. U15Lancashire FA Under-14 Youth CupMilanoLytham St. Annes Y.M.C.A. U14Lancashire FA Under-13 Youth Cup(no sponsor)Mill Hill (Blackburn) U13Lancashire FA Under-12 Youth CupSolidstripLadybridge U12 PumasLancashire FA Under-16 Girls Knockout CupTescoPreston North End Women's (Juniors) U15 BluesLancashire FA Under-14 Girls Knockout CupTescoPreston North End Women's (Juniors) U14Lancashire FA Under-18 Inter-League Cup(no sponsor)Preston & District League Lancashire FA Under-16 Inter-League Cup(no sponsor)East Lancashire AllianceLancashire FA Under-14 Inter-League Cup(no sponsor)Craven Minor LeagueLancashire FA Under-12 Inter-League Cup(no sponsor)Wigan & District Youth League
Recent Lancashire County FA Cup Competition Winners
SeasonLancashire FA Senior CupLancashire FA Challenge TrophyLancashire FA Amateur ShieldLancashire FA Amateur Cup2005–06Oldham Athletic Southport Kirkham & Wesham 2006–07Blackburn Rovers Burscough Charnock Richard 2007–08Manchester United Southport Euxton Villa 2008–09Manchester United Skelmersdale United Little Lever Sports Club 2009–10Liverpool Southport Blackpool Wren Rovers Hurst Green2010–11Blackburn Rovers 2011–12Manchester United 2012–13Manchester United 2013–14Bury Prestwich FC2014–15Bury 2015–16Everton 2016–17Liverpool 2017–18Bury
References
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