Northants FA are delighted to announce that Geoff Paul has been appointed as the new Independent Chair of the Northants FA Discipline Committee. 

This appointment ensures that Northants is at the forefront of ensuring all participants feel the discipline system is fair. 

Geoff has a wealth of experience in football and has been involved in many different roles for over 50 years. He was an active referee between 1968-1998, served as Secretary of the United Counties League between 1980-81 & as Chairman between 1995-2003. Geoff is still involved in grassroots football as a referee observer, regularly watching and developing aspiring referees.  

Geoff has been on the Northants FA discipline committee as an independent member for over 7 years now and has heard many cases over those years as a panel member and as a Chairman. Geoff also sits on the National FA Anti-Discrimination Panel.

Away from football, Geoff was also a Magistrate in Northamptonshire for a number of years.

The appointment of Geoff comes after the previous Chair, Jim Wilkinson, steps up to be the new Chairman of the Northamptonshire Football Association. We would like to place on record our thanks to Jim for his service and dedication to the discipline committee over the last 10 years. 

We currently have 8 independent members on the discipline committee, with at least 2 independent members sitting on most of our panels. 

Several new independent members have been recruited in the last couple of years from a variety of backgrounds including people with considerable legal experience, and professional game experience. This demonstrates our desire to constantly improve the disciplinary process & the experience of all involved in the process whilst always being as transparent as possible. 

We are always on the look out for new independent panel members for our discipline committee, and if you would like more information about this you can request a pack from discipline@northantsfa.com.