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Football Association (England)

image by Pete Loeser, 5 March 2019
Football Association Logo

On this page:

Introduction: The English Football Association (FA)
Description of the FA Flag
Variants of the FA Flag
Formation of the Premier League
Using Flags as Team Throws

See also:

Introduction: The Football Association (FA)

The Football Association, formed in 1863, is now the oldest football association in the world. It governs all association football played in England (including Jersey, Guernsey, and the Isle of Man). It is now responsible for overseeing all aspects of both the amateur and professional game throughout the United Kingdom. It runs numerous competitions, the most famous of which is the FA Cup. As the worlds first football association, it does not use the national name "English" in its title, but is based at Wembley Stadium in London.
The FA is also a member of both UEFA and FIFA and holds a permanent seat on the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which is responsible for the Laws of the Game. As a member of the British Olympic Association it controls Great Britain's Olympic football teams. It is also responsible for appointing the management of the men's, women's, and youth national football teams.
For centuries before the forming of the Football Association there were no universally accepted rules for playing football. But in October of 1863 a series of meetings took place in The Freemasons' Tavern in London that would determine the future fate of football, both amateur and professional. Eleven London football clubs and schools were represented at these meetings attempting to agree on common rules for football in England. Unfortunately it ended in a split between the new "Football Association" and the teams of what would become the future rugby association ten years later. Both football and rugby already had their own uniforms, and highly rules and were unable to compromise the differences.
Pete Loeser, 5 March 2019

Variant Football Association Logos

150th Years 2013 FA Uniform Patch
images by Pete Loeser, 5 March 2019

The Football Association celebrated their 150th year by changing their logo. The new logo retained the three lions but it was in golden colour and had "The FA" written above and also had "1863 150 years 2013" written below. It was apparently only used in the 2013-2014 season.
Pete Loeser, 16 June 2021

Description of the FA Flag

located by Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 2 May 2005
Source: www.the-fa.org

The English Football Association Flag can be described as a white flag blazoned thus: Argent semée of Tudor roses, three lions passant gardant in pale azure. The logo shield is in fact a semée of roses, so the precise number is irrelevant. They are currently using ten.
Source: The FA
Thomas Thurman, 30 July 2008

The English Football Association's flag was spotted on the Association's web page and flying outside its headquarters at 16 Lancaster Gate, London, W2 3LW.
The flag is a plain white field with the traditional English Three Lions (King Richard's) and nine red-white roses (of the Lancaster-York peace in the XVth Century). This is the FA's, as well as the English national team's, badge.
This "three-lions-on-a-shirt" badge dates from the late XIXth Century English team international caps. Those caps, awarded to football players on becoming "international", where at first intended to have been white (of white silk, indeed) with a red rose embroidered in the front (plain white jersey and trunks were the English team uniform up to the 1970s).
Nonetheless, the original caps were made out of navy blue velvet with a red rose, which was subsequently substituted by King Richard's three lions.
Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 11 July 2000

The FA's headquarters are no longer located on Lancaster Gate, but on Soho Square. I have seen this flag and I think the shade of blue should be darker than that depicted above. See the current edition of the FA web site, for comparison. This also features a badge with ten and not nine red roses.
Colin Dobson, 18 July 2005

Variants of the FA Flag

images by Tomislav Šipek, 5 March 2019

I found white and red flags with the full logo. I'm not quite sure but the white flag may be used by the FA on stadiums and the red one by supporters.

Tomislav Šipek, 5 March 2019

image by Tomislav Šipek, 5 March 2019

I also found a photos with longer lions on the flag.
Tomislav Šipek, 5 March 2019

Formation of the Premier League (EPL)

image by Pete Loeser, 16 June 2021
based on this photo located by Esteban Rivera, 22 December 2015

In 1992, the Football Association placed newly created Premier League, consisting of 22 clubs who had broken away from the First Division of the Football League, under their umbrella. The Premier League was reduced to 20 clubs in 1995 and is now one of the richest football leagues in the world.
The Premier League is actually a corporation (The Football Association Premier League Ltd - FAPL) in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders. The clubs elect a Chairman, Chief Executive, and Board of Directors to oversee the daily operations of the league. It is currently sponsored by Barclays Bank and thus officially known as the Barclays Premier League and is colloquially known as the Premiership. Outside the UK it is commonly referred to as the English Premier League (EPL).
According to one source the Premier League was formed take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal. Be that as may, today the Premier League is the most-watched football league in the world. Such is the nature of "modern" football management.
The Premier League's current flag is the logo of their sponsor over a white horizontal background, which is the Barclays Bank. They have been sponsoring the Premier League since 2001.
For additional information go to Premier League (official website)
Esteban Rivera, 22 December 2015

Variant EPL Banners

image by Pete Loeser, 16 June 2021
based on this photo

The newer banners, flags, and logos of the Barclays Premier League come both with blue or white fields using Barclays logos as illustrated here.
Pete Loeser, 16 June 2021

images by Pete Loeser, 16 June 2021

Using Flags as Team Throws

Football teams "flag-rugs": Having checked with my source of all info regarding English football, the former President of the Everton Supporters Club, he informs me that for the past three or four years it has become the custom for those suppliers catering to various football supporters to issue throw rugs in the form of club flags. He does not know if they are officially sanctioned by the clubs themselves, but as he bought an Everton flag/rug at the Everton Club Shop he assumes that in that case at least he must assume that at least the club knows about it and has no objection to their flag being used in this manner.
Ron Lahav, 1 May 2005