“TO PROTECT CLUBS AND SUPPORT FANS”
The Football Governance Bill has passed its Third Reading in the House of Commons, and by Royal Assent became law on 21st July 2025.
Richard Tomkins, FSA National Council rep, reviews how it’s got here:
In 2021 over 130 supporter groups in the Football Supporters’ Association presented evidence to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance (chaired by Tracey Crouch MP). HUST was one of those groups. I was impressed with Tracey Crouch’s grasp of recent football club catastrophes, including our own at Edgar Street, and she galvanised that Committee to drive the production of the first-cut Football Governance Bill ahead of the General Election 2024. In some ways I think we’ve astonished ourselves that the momentum gained by ‘ordinary supporters’ led by the FSA.
Oddly, football supporters are not listed as ‘participants’ in the game, as defined by the Football Association. Players, Directors etc are listed, but not the people who come and watch. I guess the view goes back to the Victorian times when football was founded. Modern times require a different approach. The Football Supporters’ Association’s key strength is in its campaigning for football in ways that we could only dream of even 30 years ago. The amalgamation of Supporters’ Direct and Football Supporters Federation in 2019/20 brought the synergy to benefit the prime stakeholders of the game, its supporters.
The proposed Bill could have ended at the General election of 2024, but the FSA led the drive to ensure all the political parties pledged the Bill’s continuance in their manifestos. More than 200 FSA-supporter groups (which included HUST and the London Bulls) signed an open letter to the party leaders calling on them to include the Football Governance Bill in their manifesto and work with the FSA in a new Parliament to reintroduce the legislation.
The key aim of the Bill is to introduce an Independent Football Regulator. We must be realistic here. It is not a Nirvana and will only apply to the top 5 tiers of English Football – Premier League down to National League (Premier Division). National North and South are outside the boundary, but clearly any prospective club out for promotion needs to be prepared.
The Regulator aims to:
- Protect and promote the financial soundness of regulated clubs
- Protect and promote the financial resilience of English football
- Safeguard the heritage of English football
- Ensure co-operation between clubs, owners, competition organisers, players and fans.
- More closely scrutinise the appointment of Owners & Directors.
- Promote the Engagement of supporters.
We know full well at Edgar Street what can happen to a football club. This is how we got to become Hereford FC. For me it is a remarkable achievement to get the fans’ voices now heard at the highest level in the land. And nobody can play a football match unless there are other teams to play against!
Some links for you:
The FSA view
What’s in the Football Governance Bill? – Football Supporters’ Association
Trouble sleeping? Here’s the draft Bill, all 134 pages of it…
Richard Tomkins, FSA National Councillor and HUST Chairman.
About Post Author
