Gareth

Gareth's 20 Years With Staffordshire FA

Gareth Thomas, Staffordshire FA’s Partnerships Lead, recently achieved an incredible milestone with the Association.

Gareth Thomas, Staffordshire FA’s Partnerships Lead, recently achieved an incredible milestone with the Association.

Gareth has now completed 20 years’ service with the Staffordshire FA and has played an integral part in the growth of the game in the County.

He started back in 2002, originally as a Coach Education Administrator. He then took some time out to travel, but soon returned and was appointed Football Development Officer.

His main objectives were to support all clubs in the county with Charter Standard, Coach Education, School-Club Link Programmes, Festivals, Mini Soccer development, club development and league support.

Ten years after he joined Staffordshire FA, Gareth progressed to the Adult Football Development Officer role with a focus on Adult programme and league support. He went on to build excellent relationships with all adult leagues and provided league development support, workforce development and helped all adult clubs gain Charter Standard status.

In this role he also advanced veterans and adult 11v11 recreational football and was the first person to start Friday night 11v11 leagues across the FA network - a model that has now been adopted across the Country.

Almost five years ago in 2018, he moved to the role of Communications and Relationships Officer leading all communications work and began to build relationships with new partners to support the work of Staffordshire FA overall.

In January this year, he took on the role of Commercial and Partnerships Lead with a focus on further developing partnerships and commercial links which have helped to gain further investment for the Association which has made a significant impact on the overall work that Staffordshire FA undertakes across the County.

We want to take this time to congratulate Gareth on his significant achievement.

Adam Evans, Chief Executive Officer, said: "Gareth has dedicated 20 years of his life to the Staffordshire Football Association and Staffordshire Football. He has made an unbelievable impact on the growth of the grassroots game in the county and I feel honoured and proud to have worked alongside him in his various roles.

"He still continues to go about his work with the same enthusiasm and passion today as he did 20 years, and that’s one of the main reasons Staffordshire Football is in the strong position it’s in. I would like to congratulate Gareth on behalf of the team for his outstanding service to the game."