Football Writers' Association

HISTORY

The decision to form the FWA was made by four journalists on board a ship in the middle of the English Channel on September 22 1947. The four were returning from Brussels, where they had seen England beat Belgium 5-2 in a friendly international, and are listed as Messrs Cole, Roy Peskett, Archie Quick, and Charles Buchan. The latter was the most famous of the four, having been an England international before becoming a successful journalist and founding the legendary Charles Buchan’s Football Monthly.

Within a month they had formalised some of the rules and regulations for the fledging association, membership would be invitation only, to “working journalists who are accredited football correspondants for newspapers and agencies.” Headquarters were to be in London with the initial membershp fee set at five guineas for the first year, and two guineas annually thereafter – with an FWA tie included!

The Association’s first Chairman was Ivan Sharpe, and our life membership award is named after him. Although much of the FWA’s early records and archives were destroyed in a fire some years ago, former National Committee member Mike Collett has researched and recovered much of the lost history enabling us to create a comprehensive list of past Chairs of the Association: