The Woolwich & Eltham Sunday Football Alliance

In order to provide more competition and a more varied and interesting competition, we decided to “pool resources” and the proposal was put to each set of Members Clubs. There was an astounding vote in favour of merging. The necessary work was done and 

“W & E SFA” was born. We have 8 Divisions and 15 Cup competitions, one of which (The Plumstead Challenge Cup, which dates back to 1931), is open to teams from other local Leagues. League Fixtures are cast for a Sunday morning.

We remain solid and have now established a reputation for fair play and the close monitoring of conduct. We firmly believe that everyone should be able to play their game without fear of intimidation, threat or lack of respect. We are signed up to the FA’s “Respect” programme and have been awarded the ‘Commended Status’ award for our work with this programme and the values within it. We are also well on the road to attaining England Football Accreditation status with the help of the London Football Association.

We pride ourselves on innovation, we were the first league in England to have referees trial Refsix & are continually in consultation with County FA’s in order to help fix the problem of youth teams simply disbanding, instead of stepping into adult football. The scope to provide female football within our membership is gaining momentum all the time as well as a Vets Division to ensure we capture and retain our older players, is in the pipeline. Each member club must be willing to adopt this recognition and have the desire to gain the England Football Accreditation award by the end of your second season of membership. 

Our belief is that, although the FA is very vocal about “grass-roots” football, it still does not receive the recognition and funding it deserves. We will continue to highlight this to the footballing authorities, pushing for a change of emphasis towards developing our young talent.

So, after just a short period of time, we are pushing ahead with some major issues and growing stronger. Our ethos is “firm, but democratic”. This has filtered through to our Clubs and they are working themselves to evolve into well-respected organisations. We (and they) believe in quality, not quantity and we do not approve every application to join us. 

There is, and never has been, room for thugs in football at whatever level, so we have a responsibility to protect our Members against those who seek to disrupt and spoil their Sunday mornings. 

The Management Committee have drive and ambition, our administration is superb allows a smooth transition for our members to enjoy their football. We know we have the resources, contacts and ability to be the best Sunday League locally, our internal passion for continuous improvement will not only get us there but stay there for a prolonged period of time.

We have consistently good, competitive football with the aim of having fun rather than the ‘winning at all costs’ mentality.

We are in our 17th season of the WESFA and we are very fortunate by finding ourselves having a sponsor for each of the divisions, in what is a competitive and rewarding constitution for the Alliance.