A superb crowd of 1,224 joined us at St James’ Park last week to see Newcastle United U23s defeat Morpeth Town 3-1 in what proved to be another well-contested Techflow Marine Senior Cup Final.

It was great to see that many local supporters in the stands, but we were also pleased to keep many others close to the action via our Twitter feed and the live stream we showed through our Facebook page, courtesy of Northumbria Students Union TV. 

We’re always proud to host our showpiece final at St James’ Park and I’m sure you’ll all agree that it was a fantastic spectacle of grassroots football in a magnificent stadium, contested between two excellent sides. Congratulations to Newcastle’s U23s and commiserations to Morpeth Town – you should both be proud of your efforts. 

Moving on, more excellent news came out of our County FA last week, as we announced that we’ve been successful in our application to become a registered charity. In the long-term, this will allow us to invest further into grassroots football and improve the service we offer to our county’s thriving football community.  It's another positive step in the achievement of our business improvement plan and we’re excited to make further strides in the near future. You can read more by CLICKING HERE

Meanwhile, nominations are now open for the 2018 FA and McDonald’s Grassroots Football Awards. Each year these awards allow us to recognise and reward the heroes of grassroots football in Northumberland, and you can now nominate the coaches, referees, supporters, volunteers, clubs and leagues who deserve celebrating most. Nominations are open until Friday 15 June, so CLICK HERE to submit yours today.

Finally, a special mention goes to the four Northumberland FA referees who have received promotions this season; Darren Williams, Steven Liddle, Daniel Quigley and Asa McDonough. We look forward to working with you all as you progress higher up the promotion ladder.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

John.

To keep up with our latest news via social media, please follow @NorthumFA on Twitter, or like Northumberland FA on Facebook.

You can also follow John personally on Twitter by connecting to his account - @NFACEO