As the 2022-23 season comes to an end, preparation is well under way for how Clubs will affiliate for 2023/24 season. Following IT system enhancements at The FA, affiliation will move from Whole Game System to Club Portal.

Club Portal is part of The FA’s Platform For Football, an advanced IT system that will help to simplify administration for volunteers at Clubs. The portal has been used by clubs for the past 12 months for Player Registration. The new affiliation process is designed to help reduce the administrative burden that builds up at the start of the season.

We are delighted to announce that for the 11^th consecutive season, we have been able to reduce affiliation costs due to the Devon FA Player Membership Scheme.

The affiliation window will be open from Monday 19th June 2023 at 11am, until Friday 4th August. Teams will not be able to play games if they are not affiliated. All invoices will need to be paid prior to a club’s affiliation being approved.

read the club affiliation guide now

KEY DATES 

1^st June – 5^th June – System downtime to move affiliation from WGS to Club Portal

From 1^st June – Online County FA Training Sessions hosted by Dan Eustice

1st - 5th July - System downtime to move affiliation from WGS to Club Portal

19^th June – Affiliation goes live for all clubs and leagues

4^th August – Affiliation window closes

AFFILIATION BY team, not club

Club Secretaries will be able to complete affiliation on a per team basis, rather than having to affiliate the whole of the club. This means the process will not be delayed if a club has teams who do not meet the safeguarding requirements.

For example, if a club has 3 teams, A, B & C – A & B are both fully compliant and meet the qualifications required, however, C have a manager without a DBS. The club will be able to submit teams A & B, and get them affiliated. Once the manager for Team C has sorted their DBS, the club can then affiliate Team C. This will mean clubs affiliation will not be held up by 1 team, as it has done in previous seasons. Please note, teams will not be able to complete their affiliation if they have officials, managers/coaches who are not compliant.

Once your team is fully compliant to affiliation regulations, and if you’ve purchased insurance directly through Clubs Portal, your affiliation will be automatically approved.

As you can see from the below, teams that are able to be affiliated, will have three green ticks next to their ‘officials, qualifications and team ground’. Teams that have an ‘exclamation mark’ in orange, will need to be investigated to see why they cannot yet be affiliated.

Clubs and teams will also need to ensure they have entered their ground on the system. If you are struggling to update this, or add a new ground, please email – facilities@devonfa.com

SAFEGUARDING & COMPLIANCE

As mentioned above, clubs will need to ensure their key officials, and team officials are all compliant.

Below is a matrix, which will show you ALL of the qualifications key officials and team officials will need.

safeguarding requirements for all youth clubs

safeguarding requirements for adult clubs

safeguarding requirements for adult disability clubs

Please note, the Safeguarding for Children Course has been reduced to £15 by The FA (50% off) – which can be accessed here. Use code – SGC0523GR. This discount is available until the end of July.

Adult clubs will now need a named Welfare Officer on the Whole Game System – but at this stage, they won’t need any qualifications.

Adult disability clubs will have to have a Welfare Officer named, who has completed the Safeguarding Adults Course.

Clubs can see a full list of their officials’ qualifications by logging onto the portal, clicking ‘Officials’ and then clicking the ‘Safeguarding & Qualifications’ tab.

All clubs will also need to sign an FA Safeguarding declaration, as part of their affiliation for the 2023-24 season.

Clubs and leagues can log-in to Club Portal here. The login for Club Portal is exactly the same as the login for Whole Game System.

For any queries regarding safeguarding & compliance, please email – safeguarding@devonfa.com

CLUB TRAINING

The FA have a great list of FAQ’s and guidance on their website, in the Knowledge Base section – this can be accessed here.

Devon County FA will be running their own training, on Microsoft Teams, during June & July, with Dan Eustice.

You can read more on club training and see all the available dates here.

As a County FA, we will be producing a guidance document, as well as a step-by step video & guide, which will be sent to clubs and leagues.

A recording of the FA training session is below:

INSURANCE 

As per previous seasons, clubs can purchase insurance on their affiliation application, through our provider, Sportsguard. Prices from the 2022/23 season have been frozen. If clubs have their own insurance, they can upload their insurance certificate as part of their affiliation. All teams will need Personal Accident Insurance. All clubs will need 1 x Public Liability Insurance per club.

Please click here for a list of FAQ’s on the FA’s website.

Please click here for an Affiliations Checklist.

For any questions regarding affiliations, please email – affiliations@devonfa.com