Northamptonshire FA shirt.

Board

Jim Wilkinson

Jim Wilkinson 

Chairman - Northamptonshire FA

Jim Wilkinson has been in Football with Northamptonshire FA from 1983 when registering as a Referee eventually getting onto Football League as an Assistant Referee. Jim served previously as Vice Chairman of the Association for several years. He is married to Helen for 42years and counting and have three children.

Jim has an Honours Degree in Earth Science and is a Fellow of the Geological Society. He works as Contracts Manager for a large national house building company.

Kirsty Clarke

Kirsty Clarke 

Chief Executive Officer  - Northamptonshire FA

Gerald Hawthorn

Gerald Hawthorn

 Council Elected Director-  Northamptonshire FA


Alex Brooks

Alex Brooks

Independent Non-Executive Director (HR) - Northamptonshire FA

Alex is a sports and employment lawyer, with several years’ experience advising on employment and HR issues in particular. 

Alex has been a solicitor at specialist sports law firm Onside Law since 2018, having previously trained and qualified into the Employment department at Penningtons Manches before joining Thomas Cooper in their Employment and Sports team. 

Alex is passionate about grassroots sport and plays in weekly 5 and 7 a side football leagues, as well as being involved with a number of charities that use sport to help children and young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds. Additionally, Alex is a member of the Employment Lawyers’ Association and Women in Football.

John Moriaty

John Moriarty

Council Elected Director-Northamptonshire FA


Salim Bhaiji

Salim Bhaiji

Independent Non-Executive Director (Finance) – Northamptonshire FA

Salim is a management consultant at KPMG specialising in Finance Transformation. In a 13-year career he has worked across a number of large Financial Institutions including Allianz, Aviva, AIG and Barclays. He is also a qualified accountant.

In his current role he leads Finance Change projects across teams including FP&A, Business Partnering and Financial Reporting. This involves work covering Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting, Cost Reduction, Org Design, Business Process Review and Regulatory Driven Change. 

Salim is a life-long Newcastle United fan and is also starting his FA coaching path for which he is Level 1 qualified.

Neil Griffin

Neil Griffin 

Council Elected Director -Northamptonshire FA

 

Alice Smyth

Alice Smyth

Independent Non-Executive Director

Alice is Trust Wide Lead for Physical Education at the David Ross Education Trust, overseeing the intent, implementation and impact of Physical Education across the trust. In her 14 year teaching career she has held a number of leadership positions including Director of Sport and Director of Learning, she is a designated Specialist Leader in Education and is currently completing her National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership (NPQSL).

Alice’s love of football began as a Peterborough United fan over 20 years ago. Alice is a qualified Football coach and referee and has held a number of managerial positions in both the adult and junior women’s game. Alice was previously awarded the Northamptonshire FA Female development award for her work around developing women’s Football in the county.

Aside from Football Alice has a passion for running, focussing particularly on Marathons and Cross Country.

 
Bryan Lewin

Bryan Lewin

Co-opted Independent Non-executive director (governance)

After 44 years in local government Bryan retired in 2009 as Head of Trading Standards with Northamptonshire County Council.  He was awarded the MBE for his services to consumers and business in the 2010 New Year’s Honours list.

On his own admission, Bryan was a mediocre Sunday League player, at best … but managed Nusport FC to some success. More recently, he was secretary and fixture secretary of Northampton ON Chenecks FC for over twelve years. Bryan is a season ticket holder at Kettering Town FC, a club that he has supported for nearly 70 years, and he takes great delight in watching the progress of three of his grandchildren in the beautiful game.

Raff

Raff Miah

Inclusion 

Raff works for BT as a Regional Account Manager in the security and alarming Industry. Raff works very closely with Alarm Receiving Centres (ARC) and Installation companies. He provides commercial support and own the key relationships with large and small corporate companies, he can also provide technical training and remote service access for the Installers, manage accounts and contracts with ARC’s.

In January of 2016, Alongside other individuals Raff set up a football team called Northants United. They wanted to be able to set up a team where ‘all’ would feel welcome but with a high interest of getting the BAME players more interested and more involved in a structured club and team. They also had another focus to get the young individuals to focus on something more positive and hopefully eliminate any negative involvements relating to drugs or anti-social behaviour. Furthermore, Raff is a Level 1 qualified coach and taking an interest in doing his referee qualification too.

Raff hopes to add value to the IAG board by helping and assisting where possible to ensure inclusion is at the heart of any and every club, with also a scope to raise the awareness of Inclusion across to a broader level.

Brendan Doherty

Brendan Doherty

Council Elected Director-Northamptonshire FA

I’ve been involved in football in some capacity since I was 14 years of age and after finishing playing football at 37 I took up the whistle to become a Referee, reaching level 4. Since ‘retiring’ from Refereeing I have been involved in various committees and am presently the Chairman of the NFA Referees committee and the Northants Senior Youth League. I am married to Julie for coming up to 35 years and have two Children, Liam, who is married to Ellisha and Kerry, who is getting married to Chris in May 2024.