Each season clubs/organisations from up and down the County hold tournaments and festivals in order to help in their fundraising efforts, to raise the profile of the club/organisation, and to give players a different footballing experience. We see some great events held every year, and would always encourage and support the holding of tournaments.

Clubs/organisations need to remember that FA rules are clear that ANY tournament or festival held by clubs/organisations MUST be sanctioned by the County FA. An application form needs to be completed and submitted to Nottinghamshire FA for sanctioning. The form is simple, where the club/organisation is asked to outline the date(s) of the tournament, and how it will be run.

Clubs/organisations are free to decide on the format of the tournament they are holding, however they are required to confirm that the tournament will be run in line with FA rules relating to;

•    The format of football for each age group is in line with FA guidelines (for example U7s cannot play 7v7)

•    The total minutes of football does not exceed the allowed daily maximum for an age group

•    No player who is under the age of 6 can play and players must be playing in their correct banded age groups

•    All teams entering the tournament must be affiliated to their County FA, if teams entering are not affiliated, they will play at their own risk with no personal accident insurance cover in place (unless they take this out independently)

•    Tournament rules are consistent with SCOR(Y)

Safeguarding

All affiliated youth clubs have a Club Welfare Officer (CWO) in post who deals with safeguarding and welfare; it is best practice for the club or organisation holding the tournament or festival to appoint an appropriate welfare officer for the duration of the event.

Club / Team officials participating in the event should hold all necessary safeguarding qualifications - including a valid FA-DBS.

The tournament organiser will also need to complete an FA safeguarding risk assessment for each event. For further advice or guidance please contact the Nottinghamshire FA Designated Safeguarding Officer on 0115 9837400 or by email safeguarding@nottinghamshirefa.com.

Referees

If you require qualified referees for your tournament or festival, we can circulate the opportunity to those affiliated to Nottinghamshire FA. Whilst we can’t organise referees for your event, we can help signpost them to contact you. If you want some assistance with referees, then you can contact the referee support team on 0115 9837400 or by email referees@nottinghamshirefa.com

Insurance

If you are a Nottinghamshire affiliated club then it may be in your best interest to contact Bluefin Sport Insurance 0345 872 5060 with regards to your liability insurance and that it covers your festival or tournament in terms of the activities that will be available as there may be some exclusions as part of the policy, it will be the club’s sole responsibility to ensure it is covered fully for the event.

If you are a private business or organisation, then it will be your responsibility to ensure that you have appropriate liability insurance in place to cover you for the event.

Affiliated teams who take part should have personal accident insurance in place through their affiliation, but if the teams are a collection of friends and are not affiliated as a team then you may wish to remind them that they have no personal accident insurance cover, they can contact Bluefin Sport Insurance 0345 872 5060 to seek personal accident insurance cover for the event.

Promotion

We will only promote festival/tournaments that are sanctioned, we can support the club by adding information to our Social Media feeds, to discuss this please contact Notts FA on info@nottinghamshirefa.com

Cost

The cost of the tournament sanction is £30.00. This will be invoiced on The Whole Game System once the form is received by the County FA