The Football Supporters’ Federation

The Football Supporters’ Federation

The Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) is a nationwide supporters’ organisation for all football fans within the UK comprising over 142,000 individual fans and members of local supporters’ organisations and football clubs in the UK.

What role does the Football Supporters’ Federation play?

The FSF looks after all the interests of the football fan within the UK. This includes regular meetings with the football authorities and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. In these meetings a wide range of issues are discussed. Many of these issues are brought forward by the FSF in order to bring forward the policies of the organisation in response to any concerns which have been raised by their members and supporters.

Does the Football Supporters’ Federation meet with any other bodies relevant to the issues faced by football fans?

The FSF will also meet with other relevant bodies such as the Independent Football Commission and the Police Match Commanders to undertake more detailed analysis of specific topics.

What issues does the Football Supporters’ Federation seek to address?

The FSF will often regularly take up specific complaints and cases which have been brought to the Federation’s attention by individual members or affiliated organisations. During the process of redressing these issues the FSF encourages the involvement of all the Federation’s supporters.

Are there any recent campaigns run by the Football Supporters’ Federation?

The recent campaigns which have been run, or are still being run, by the FSF include the following:

• Watching football is not a crime – a campaign concerned with football fans unjustly served with football banning orders
• Fair Cop? – a campaign which enables fans to obtain feedback on policing and stewarding at matches played in the North East of England
• Price Watch – a campaign which responds to many fans’ concerns that their football club may be bending or breaking the rules on pricing of tickets
• No to Gam£ 39 – a campaign against the FA Premier Leagues proposal to extend the Premier League season to 39 games included one round of matches played in various locations around the world

The FSF also works on a campaign for safe standing in football stadiums along with a body called Stand Up Sit Down.

What is the structure of the Football Supporters’ Federation?

The FSF is made up of six regional divisions, they are as follows: 

• Northeast
• Yorkshire – this also covers Humberside and the north midlands
• North West & North Wales
• Midlands
• Southern
• South West and South Wales

The fact that it is split up into six divisional regions enables members to have a regular opportunity to come together and discuss all aspects of football, specific events and a range of supporter issues.

What will happen to the decisions and recommendations made in these divisional meetings?

Following a meeting of each of the regional divisions certain decisions will have been come to and recommendations will need to be made. These will then be fed back to the FSF’s National Council.

What is the FSF’s National Council?

The FSF’s National Council is the elected body of volunteers and contractors which is responsible for delivering the aims and objectives of the Federation. The FSF’s National Council is democratically decided by the members at the annual Fans’ Parliament and AGM.

Can the regional divisions pursue campaigns and activities on their own?

The regional divisions of the SFS are autonomous meaning they are able to pursue campaigns and activities themselves. Furthermore a development fund will be available for members to use for specific campaigns through their division.

What is the Fans’ Parliament?

The Fan’s Parliament is an annual meeting whereby supporters from England and Wales will come together to try and ensure certain policies to influence the game of football for the better for the fans involved.

Does the Football Supporters Federation provide any service for football fans who are travelling abroad to watch matches?

In conjunction with the Nationwide Building Society (the official sponsor of the England national team) the FSF runs a service called the Nationwide FAF Fans’ Embassy Service.

What is the purpose of the FSF Fan’s Embassy Service?

The FSF Fan’s Embassy Service exists in order to provide advice, information and support service to travelling fans at the majority of the away matches played by the England team. This will include tournament finals, qualifiers and friendly matches.

Does this service apply only to fans that have official match tickets for the game?

This service applies regardless of whether or not the fans have official match tickets for the game. If England fans have travelled to a specific country due to the reason of the England national team playing there then they will be able to use the FSF Fans’ Embassy Service.

Does the FSF produce any publications intended to help England football fans?

The FSF publishes an England fanzine called Free Lions. This is produced by the FSF and distributed at both home and away games for the England national team. It is written material which is also complemented by a telephone helpline, website information and a team of volunteers.

Are there any other services which I should be aware of as a football supporter?

The FSF also runs through their website a service called the Ground Guide.

What is the Ground Guide?

The Ground Guide is a comprehensive guide to 160 football clubs in the top seven divisions of English football. It also includes an ever expanding source of information concerning a certain amount of clubs across Europe.

The website function will enable a fan to search for a specific club and will be provided with as much information as they need to know on that club’s particular ground.

Much of the information in this section of the site is submitted by supporters of that club and is an ever changing aspect of the site to keep up to date with what may be happening at that particular club.