Mathew Major elected as chairman of the Sussex County FA

The Governing Body of football in Sussex has a new leader in Mathew Major, who takes over as the Chairman of the Sussex County FA from the late Peter Bentley, who sadly passed away in early November.
Mathew Major - Sussex County FA ChairmanMathew Major - Sussex County FA Chairman
Mathew Major - Sussex County FA Chairman

Mathew, 55, has a wealth of experience in the business side of the beautiful game, having previously been a sponsor at Oxford United in the late 1980’s and then later as Commercial Director of Worthing Football Club between 1995 and 2000. A role which saw him help bring Brighton & Hove Albion back to Sussex from Gillingham, when a deal was struck with former Albion Chairman Dick Knight, to host all Brighton & Hove Albion Reserve matches at, Worthing’s home ground, Woodside Road, in return for the Albion’s first pre- season friendly; an arrangement that lasted long after Major left the club.

In 2007 Mathew took over as Chairman of Shoreham Football Club, where he successfully introduced and integrated youth football at the club, culminating in numerous League and Cup triumphs throughout his tenure.

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Mathew left Shoreham in April of 2013 to concentrate on his role with the Sussex County FA, where he has been a Council Member since 2009 and a Director since 2011.

In September 2013 Mathew was elected as Deputy Chairman of the Sussex County FA, following the relocation to Somerset of the previous Deputy, Phil Chaplin. With the loss of Peter Bentley through illness in November 2013, he was duly elected as the new Chairman of the organisation.

Sussex County FA Chief Executive, Ken Benham said, “Mathew will be bringing new ideas and thoughts to the role, and will continue the good work that Peter Bentley did during his term of office. He will, with his business skills, add further development to the Sussex County FA in these challenging times and I am delighted to be working alongside him.”

Mathew himself is upbeat about the future of the association, “There are many challenges ahead and I am confident that we can meet them. I want to make football more inclusive to everyone in Sussex and that means an expansion of disability football as well as Women’s, Girls and Youth football. We also have to compete with other sports, as well as other activities such as the internet, social media and computer games.”

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Mathew’s first official public engagement as Sussex County FA Chairman will be attending the Sussex County FA Women’s Representative Squad home fixture against the Kent FA on Wednesday 8 2014 at the Sussex County FA HQ, Lancing.

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