The Annual General Meeting of the Football Supporters Association (FSA) was held on Saturday 6th June at Bush House.
The formal record of the meeting can be accessed here:
https://thefsa.org.uk/news/round-up-fsa-agm-2026/
The day began with a presentation from the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) head lawyer David Riley. He spoke about progress so far and answered questions about what the IFR will and won't be doing and what stage they are at. He emphasised that they will be seeking a collaborative rather than punitive route with clubs and that they recognised that a one-size-fits-all approach would be very inappropriate given that all clubs are unique and are at different stages of development.
He was followed by Paul Watson, author of 'Round the World in 80 Clubs' who spoke entertainingly about attending the beautiful game in far-flung corners of the globe. Among many other stories he described the Buddhist monk ultras of Bhutan's Thimphu City; the priestly punch-ups in The Vatican City League; The Greenland season which lasts one week and Saaremaa in Estonia who play their rivals Hiiumaa on a ferry in the middle of the Baltic.
The formal AGM business followed (see above). Heather Alderson proposed CAST's motion that:
"As part of its continuing commitment to sporting integrity, the FSA resolves to seek agreement from the Competition Organisers (i.e EFL, PL, WSL, NL etc) that they will direct their clubs to consult fans prior to votes on changes to the structure of the season and the mechanisms for promotion and relegation."
The intent of the motion is to give the FSA greater support via a mandate to campaign for consultation on any future proposals such as the recent changes to the Championship Playoffs format. It is future proofed against eventualities by referring to ‘competition organisers’ rather than just the EFL.
The FSA National Council supported the motion as follows:
"We support this motion as a practical and proportionate step towards strengthening meaningful supporter engagement in the overall governance of the game. Structural changes to competitions have far reaching consequences for clubs, supporters and the wider pyramid. Ensuring fans are properly consulted prior to such decisions reinforces the principles of transparency, accountability and sporting integrity and helps embed good governance practices across the game."
The motion was carried unanimously
Eight other motions were proposed of which six were passed and two were remitted after full debate (details above)
The afternoon was given over to workshops on football and social media; multi-club ownership; ticket pricing; the LGBTQ+Hub; the regulator and supporter engagement; young supporter activists; safety advisory groups and Pledgeball.
Heather Alderson led the social media workshop with Nick Clarke from Manchester City Supporters Union and Ellie Molloson from Garibaldi Girls (Forest). It was very well attended and CAST agreed to share its social media strategy as a blueprint for other organisations.