The Staffordshire Football Association operates a system to collect football debts on behalf of affiliated clubs, affiliated leagues and other county associations.
Football debts are defined as those costs arising directly from football activity and as such include disciplinary costs (e.g. fines), match costs (e.g. match fees) and playing expenses (e.g. pitch hire). Incidental costs (e.g. club subscriptions and fund raising activities) do not fall within the scope of football debt recovery.
The Staffordshire Football Association will take action against individuals or groups of individuals. Individuals may be pursued where they are refusing to reimburse an individual club for a qualifying debt. Where a club has folded its qualifying debts may be apportioned against registered members and officers and action taken against them individually to recover the club’s debt.
The creditor is required to take reasonable steps to recover the debt before asking the Staffordshire Football Association to take action. This includes approaching the debtor(s) personally as well as contacting them in writing to seek payment.
The Staffordshire Football Association should be approached as soon as it is clear there is a problem. In all cases this should be within 28 days of formal payment being requested and 56 days of the debt being incurred.
Upon receipt of the request for assistance and copies of correspondence sent to the debtor(s), the Staffordshire Football Association will verify whether the debt is valid and notify the creditor its decision.
If the Staffordshire Football Association is satisfied that a debt exists the debt will be apportioned on a pro-rata basis and notify the individual(s) concerned. An administration fee may be added to each individual’s pro-rata debt.
Individuals must pay the debt within 21 days of the issue of the notification letter or appeal on accordance with the appeal procedures. If payment or appeal is not received by the deadline, the individual(s) will be suspended Sine Die until the debt is paid and further notified that the suspension has been lifted. This suspension will commence immediately after the 21st day after the date the notification was issued.
For full details of the Football Debt Recovery Rules, please refer to the Staffordshire Football Association Handbook.