The Devon County Football Association, also simply known as the ''Devon F.A.'', is the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in the county of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. The Devon F.A. was founded in 1888 in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. They run a number of league and cup competitions for teams of all levels across the county, and representative teams for Senior Ladies, Under 18 Men and Under 18 Ladies.

History

The Devon County Football Association was formed in 1888 at a meeting held in the pavilion of Plymouth Cricket Club, South Devon Place, which is now the Astor Playing Fields at Cattedown. The founding clubs were: * Newton * Argyle FC * Carlton Oaks * Plymouth F.C. * Plymouth United *

Plymouth College Plymouth College is a co-educational private school in Plymouth, Devon. History The school was established in 1877. In 1896 Plymouth College bought Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead Colleg ...

* Mannamead School * Tavistock Grammar School Initially the County F.A. established a set of rules for members and oversaw friendlies and inter county representative matches. The first County Representative match took place in March 1888 at

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

against Somerset County F.A. where they were defeated by two goals to nil. The return fixture in April also ended in a defeat by two goals to three. In 1889, the County Cup competition, the Challenge Cup, was inaugurated. The first winners were Tavistock Town who defeated Plymouth FC in the final.

Leagues

Devon is one of the largest County F.A.'s by geographic area. There are five affiliated Saturday men's leagues, one Women's league, four Sunday leagues and a Wednesday league. They are: ;Saturday * Plymouth and West Devon Combination Football League * South Devon League * North Devon League * Devon and Exeter League * Kingsley League (in recess) Women's * Devon Women's League ;Sunday * Exeter and District Sunday League * Torbay Sunday League * North Devon Sunday League * Plymouth and West Devon Sunday League * Devon Wednesday League Additionally there are 8 Junior Boy's leagues and one Girl's league. Affiliated clubs also play in other Football Association and Football League competitions. These include the three senior clubs that play in Football League Two (as of 2013) of Plymouth Argyle, Exeter City and Torquay United.

County Cups

The Devon St Lukes Challenge Cup is the premier county knockout cup competition. The full list is: * St Lukes Challenge Cup * Devon Premier Cup * Devon Senior Cup * Devon Intermediate Cup * Devon Veterans Cup * Devon Midweek Cup * Devon Sunday Supplementary Cup * Devon Under 13 Boys Cup * Devon Under 14 Boys Cup * Devon Under 15 Boys Cup * Devon Under 16 Boys Cup * Devon Under 18 Youth Cup * Devon Women's Senior Cup * Devon Women's Supplementary Cup * Devon Under 13 Girls Cup * Devon Under 15 Girls Cup * Devon Under 16 Girls Cup

Notable former players

Ollie Watkins Oliver George Arthur Watkins (born 30 December 1995) is an English professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa and the England national football tea ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

and

England national football team The England national football team have represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Eng ...

footballer. * Sam Gallagher:

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

footballer.

References

External links

Devon FA's Official WebsiteOnline Football Streaming
Football in Devon County football associations Sports organizations established in 1888 {{UK-sport-org-stub