Staff
Northumberland FA
Below you will find the members of staff who work within the organisation. If you wish to contact the staff directly please use the details attached to their profile.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The business development unit supports the growth of the company, helping us to invest more resource into the game than ever before, whilst also ensuring we communicate and gain feedback effectively from our customers.
Andrew Cook
Acting Chief Executive Officer
Andrew has worked for Northumberland FA since 2012 in a range of roles including Commercial Manager.
Get In Touch
By Email: Andrew.Cook@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700 (option 5)
By Mobile: 07921144906
Helen Beales
Marketing and Communications Officer
Helen's role is to promote the work of Northumberland FA and ensure it reaches as wide an audience as possible. She looks after the organisation's social media and website.
A former journalist, Helen has wide ranging experience in PR and Marketing in both the private and public sector.
Get in touch
By email:
helen.beales@northumberlandfa.com
By phone: 0191 2700 700
Mobile: 07458 043680
Football Administration
The administrative unit delivers the administration of player registration, club affiliation, league sanctioning, referee registration, coach and volunteer education amongst other functions in the company.
Rachel Carter
Head of Administration
Before taking on her role at the County FA, Rachel was Logistics Coordinator for the RFU England Women’s teams, a position which involved arranging all off field logistics, including training schedules, travel, accommodation and match management. She also previously worked at Sussex University's SU as their Sports Coordinator and Major League Baseball as their Events Coordinator.
Rachel manages and administers County Cups, the FA Youth Team and manages reception on a daily basis. She also organises pitch bookings and provides administration support to the operations department and CEO.
Get In Touch
By Email:
info@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700
Lynn Barber
Football Administrator
Lynn oversees all Coach Education administration and provides support to candidates. She also helps with the administration of discipline, charter standard applications and also adult recreational football and is located at the reception on a daily basis.
Lynn's previous role was an Administrator for Staffordshire FA, but having lived away from Newcastle and moving around for the last 18 years she moved back to the North East in December to settle with family.
Ellis Lander
Football Administrator
Ellis is responsible for the administration of club affiliation, league sanctioning and all County Cup competitions.
He joined NFA from Essex County FA where he was Governance Administrator and previously worked in the IT events team for The FA at Wembley Stadium. He studied Football Business and Media at UCFB Wembley.
FOOTBALL Quality
The football quality unit’s remit is to ensure that participants in the game have an excellent experience through the provision of a quality facility, quality referee and a well skilled volunteer workforce, including coaches.
Scott Flynn
Facilities Officer
Scott joined the company in 2016 as Discipline Officer. He has now progressed into the role of Facilities Development Officer. Scott is responsible for assisting Clubs to improve their facilities, pitches and maintenance equipment. Scott works closely with strategic partners such as Sport England, Football Foundation, Local Authorities and the Institute of Groundsmanship.
Scott is also the main point of contact for the roll out of Temporary Dismissals (Sin Bins).
Get In Touch
By Email: Scott.Flynn@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700
By Mobile: 07458 043676
Kevin Azzopardi
Referee Development Officer (RDO)
Kevin Azzopardi is a former FIFA Referee from Malta and currently also a UEFA Referee Observer. He was Director of Refereeing at the Malta Football Association for four years. He is also an accredited FIFA VAR Instructor and UEFA CORE Coach.
The role of the RDO is to recruit, educate, develop and support match officials throughout the county in line with the National Game Strategy. Working closely with the Referee Development Team, this includes overseeing the delivery of New Referee Courses, in-service training events, promotion schemes and Northumberland FA’s Centre of Refereeing Excellence (CORE).
Get In Touch
By Email:
Kevin.Azzopardi@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700
By Mobile: 07458 043677
Football PARTICIPATION
The football participation unit focuses on maintaining and increasing levels of participants in the male, female and game for people with a disability. The unit supports clubs and leagues and ensures we have appropriate and adequate player pathways for all participants.
David Jones
Head of Participation
David joined Northumberland FA in November 2019. His role as Head of Participation is to oversee and develop football at all age groups across disability, female and male pathways.
He previously worked at Northumberland FA from 2013-2016 as the Just Play Officer, before working as the Sport Engagement Manager at Northumbria University and completing a Masters Degree in International Sport Management.
David has a wide knowledge of the sport industry and sport development. He has also worked abroad in health and sport in Canada and Zambia, is a Level 2 Football Coach, Level 1 Futsal Coach, and qualified football and futsal referee. Outside of his role, David volunteers in football as secretary of an adult club as well as playing every Saturday.
Get In Touch
By Email: David.Jones2@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700
By Mobile: 07458 043673
Gary Middleton
Coach Education Development Officer
Gary joined Northumberland FA from Gateshead Colllege where he was Head of the Men's Football Academy.
He leads on the development of our coach and volunteer education programme, ensuring learners get the best outcomes possible, developing new programmes and liaising with our customers to ensure we provide an excellent learning experience.
Previously, he was Football Development Manager for Hirst Welfare/Active Northumberland for 12 years and was an Affiliate Tutor for Northumberland FA.
He is a UEFA A licence coach with experience in varied different coaching environments through senior football, the youth development phase & the foundation phase, and has vast teaching and education experience and qualifications.
Chris Kilburn
Disability Football Development Officer
Chris joined Northumberland FA in September 2019. His role as Disability Development Officer is to develop and support disability football across all ages.
Chris has a BSc in Applied Sports Science and experience coaching football at grassroots level with Forest Hall, working with young players and adults at Newcastle United Foundation and assisting the FA where he coached the Regional Disability Centre in 2011/12.
In 2016 Chris began a career in teaching with 1-to-1 support for pupils in SEND/SEMH schools before returning to football with Northumberland FA.
Get In Touch
By Email: Christopher.Kilburn@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700
By Mobile: 07458 043681
Nicola Hepworth
Football Development Officer - Women and Girls
Nicola began work in a Women, Girls and Disability FDO role at Northumberland Sport in September 2003, before continuing her role at Northumberland FA in 2009.
Her role at Northumberland FA changed in January 2017 to a Women’s and Girls’ FDO, meaning she now organises and develops football opportunities for females of all ages. Among other things, she provides this support through SSE Wildcats Girls’ Football Clubs, The FA Girls’ England Talent Pathway, a Girls and Women’s League and The Female Coach Mentoring Programme.
Get In Touch
By Email: Nicola.Hepworth@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700
By Mobile: 07458 043674
Football Compliance
Our football compliance unit works on ensuring the game is a safe place for people to participate. For any safeguarding concerns please email safeguarding@northumberlandfa.com or call 0191 270 0700.
Angela Forster
Designated Safeguarding Officer (Head of Compliance)
Please use the contact details to the right in order to report any safeguarding concerns.
Get In Touch
Designated Safeguarding Officer:
Angela Forster
By Phone:0191 270 0700
Mobile: 07458 043 678
By Email: Safeguarding@northumberlandfa.com
Deputy Designated Safeguarding Officer
Ray Johnstone
Ray is a retired police officer who has served in Northumbria, City of London and Kent forces. Since he left the police he has worked extensively in safeguarding, including as a trainer and with sports bodies such as golf and ice skating. He was Welfare Officer at England Golf for England Girls U18 Squad.
A former semi-professional footballer, he is a qualified UEFA B coach and previously worked in Sunderland AFC’s youth set-up.
Ray will be the first point of contact for any safeguarding inquiries.
Get In Touch
By Email: safeguarding@northumberlandfa.com (for all safeguarding inquiries)
ray.johnstone@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700
By Mobile: 07736924862
Adam Williamson
Discipline Officer
Having graduated from UCFB Etihad Campus with a First in Football Business & Coaching, Adam has a wide experience in the sports industry from coaching in the US with Challenger Sports, being a performance analyst for England Netball and has most recently has worked with Manchester City to help produce their fan engagement events on match-days and around the world. As Discipline Officer, Adam processes all red and yellow cards, carries out investigations into misconduct cases, and processes football debt recovery requests.Get In Touch
By Email: Adam.Williamson@northumberlandfa.com
By Phone: 0191 2700 700
By Mobile: 07458043674
