MEET THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Board's role is to lead, protect and support everyone in the Amateur FA.

They are responsible for overseeing this work and are responsible for the overall governance of the organisation including strategy, oversight and accountability.

If you are interested in getting involved, or have any questions for the Board, please get in touch.

Board Chairperson

Robert Hanison

Robert has for the past 14 years been employed as a Researcher for the National Centre of Social Research and is in the process of retiring from his Property Management Company.  He previously had experience as Managing Director of a Clothing Manufacturing Company.

He is a keen Volunteer and has been a School Governor at a local Primary School. He has actively participated in local politics having served a secretary of his constituency party.

He became a qualified referee in 1973 and is still officiating in AFA Football. He previously played Sunday football in the London FA and was the Secretary of a Sunday Football League and served on the Disciplinary Committee of the London FA for three years. He still plays 5 a side football on a Sunday morning.

In 1976 he became Secretary of the AFA Referees Society and has served in all positions including Chairman. He has been a supporter of the Referees Association and has served on the National Executive when he was President of the Southern Division.

He has been Chairman of the AFA Council and has been a member of the Council for 35 years, and is now in his second year as Chairman of the Board.

Board Vice-chairperson

Ronnie Robinson

Ronnie is the Board Vice Chair and sits on the Governance and Nominations Committee.

Ronnie is a Chartered Surveyor specialising in property development, asset management and investment. During his career he has been responsible for many high profile developments throughout the UK, Europe and the United States. He is currently a consultant at Birmingham City Council.

He has held director roles at a number of blue chip organisations including Grosvenor, Quintain, Candy & Candy and Value Retail. He ran his own development consultancy for 7 years.

Ronnie's introduction to football was as a five year old when he was taken to Ibrox to see Rangers parade the European Cup Winners Cup. The seed was sown. He started playing at the age of seven and continued until he was 45, during which time he qualified as both a coach and referee.

Ronnie joined Norsemen FC in 1993 and is now Club Secretary - Norsemen is a founding member of the AFA. He is a member of the Southern  Amateur League League Management Committee and takes on the role of Discipline Officer and represents the league on the AFA Council. 

Still an active referee, Ronnie also mentors newly qualified referees and observes promotion candidates. He sits on the FA's Regional Disciplinary Panel as both a chair and panel member.

Nominated Director

Will Hoyle

Will is a qualified accountant with over 25 years in practise and industry.

He was appointed to the board in 2017 as the Honorary Treasurer.

A keen volunteer, Will has been a chair of governors at a secondary school in Edmonton, and was a Games Maker during the London 2012 Olympics.

He was playing first team football for the Old Malvernian FC as a goalkeeper until recently although has still not officially hung up his gloves.

A qualified referee, Will is also a member of the AFA council and Chair of the Arthurian League.

Chief Executive Officer of the Amateur FA

Jason Kilby

Jason initially joined the board in 2016 as Independent Finance Director. In 2018 he succeeded Mike Brown as Chief Executive (and Company Secretary). Following a review of governance the Chief Executive was given an ex-officio role on the Board in 2020.

Jason played football in the Amateur FA from 1996 to 2010, playing for Mayfield Athletic and then Old Woodhouseians. He then trained as an Amateur FA referee, and has refereed in Amateur FA competitions since 2010. Jason is an FA qualified coach, and currently coaches youth players with Cerebral Palsy in Cheshunt. Since 2023 Jason has been the Chair of the FA's National Cerebral Palsy Football League.

Jason qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant in 2002, and has worked in banking, property development, business consultancy, telecoms, Fast Moving Consumer Goods and charitable leisure, as well as football. Jason started working in football in 2002 coaching and providing financial support to Brentford Community Trust, before moving into football development with the Middlesex FA and then the Surrey FA. Before joining the Amateur FA, Jason was the Head of Finance and Resources for Millwall Community Trust.

As Chief Executive, Jason is responsible for driving the Amateur FA's performance against its strategy, liaising with the Football Association and leading and managing the overall operations and resources of the organisation.

Jason regularly watches Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, follows the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco Giants, is a trained beekeeper, a poor golfer and developing ceramicist.

Nominated Director

Matthew Barry

Board Safeguarding Champion

Edleen John

Edleen John (FCIPD) is a multi-award-winning Global Diversity, ESG, Corporate Affairs and Communications Consultant working cross-sector and globally. Her experience over the course of her career has impacted and delivered across the corporate, charitable, and public-sector spheres in both an Executive and Non-Executive capacity.

She started her career as an Investment Banker at Lehman Brothers working in Debt Capital Markets and has held a variety of revenue-generating and support-function roles across the Financial Services sector including Insurance Broking at Lloyd's of London, Graduate Recruitment at Nomura, Vice President at Morgan Stanley, Director and the Co-Head of Inclusion, Diversity and Social Equality at KPMG and most recently as the International Relations, Corporate Affairs and Co-Partner for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Director at The Football Association.

Aside from her day job, Edleen is a School Governor and Vice Chair of the Governing Board at a community special school for young people with severe and profound disabilities, a Director of Tech Talent Charter, an International Trustee for Restless Development, a member of DIAL Global Advisory Board, a Non-Executive Director for Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for England and an Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Practitioner and Panel Member for NASA.

Health and Wellbeing Independent Non-Executive Director

Gavin English

Gavin is the Deputy Head (Pastoral) at Alleyn’s School in Dulwich and a proud dad to two girls. 

He has a passion for fostering social mobility through education and sports. Since he began his journey at Alleyn’s in 2006 as a PE teacher, he has held the positions of Head of Football and Director of Sport. 

In November 2021, Gavin initiated the Alleyn’s Academy, an outreach program breaking down access barriers through sports, which has now expanded to music, history, science and digital learning. 

Fiercely, committed to driving social change, Gavin serves on various boards including Independent School Football Association (ISFA) and Amateur Football Alliance AFA), focusing on mental health and wellbeing. 

Beyond Alleyn’s, Gavin is a Chairs of Governors for a state secondary school which is part of one of the UK's largest Multi Academy Trusts and is Chair of a non-league football club, supporting youth engagement charities and community groups. He also contributes to national youth mental health research and action groups, and speaks on national media, advocating for proactive pastoral care and youth empowerment in mental health and wellbeing.

Commercial Independent Non-Executive Director

Graham Smith

Graham is the Managing Partner of Gibson Alexander: the strategic & professional services firm.

Previously Graham was the Head of Sport for a top10 accountancy firm, where his clients included various entities in and around sports ranging from broadcasters to players and beyond.

Prior to that he served as the Chief Financial & Legal Officer for entrepreneurial organisations from the UK, the EU and the Far East.

Whilst fulfilling those roles, he developed a strategic advisory practice with clients like the World Freestyle Football Association, Spartan Race and Sheffield FC (which wrote the original rules of football in 1857).

Graham trained as a Chartered Accountant at PWC, where he audited & advised entities in the public sector and sports. Alongside his accountancy training, he also managed volunteering & fundraising for Street League, which improved employability through football.

During law school, he specialised in sports law with a thesis that analysed media rights, player transfers and the regulation of agents; then developed new deterrents for match fixing.

Graham grew up as an Academy footballer of professional clubs. Nowadays he enjoys a healthy range of sports & exercise such as football, rugby, swimming and yoga. Travelling far and wide, occasionally he also plays in charity matches of (pro) football legends and serves as a panellist at sports conferences and other events.

Nominated Director

John Maskell

John is a retired Local Government Officer that dealt with financial matters.

He joined Old Camdenians Football and Cricket Clubs in 1969, and is still involved with the Club’s ground and umpiring in the cricket season.

John is also former Vice Chairman of the Old Boys Football League, Chairman of the Amateur Football Combination (AFC) and Chairman/Secretary of the London Old Boys Cup Competition (LOB).

A member of the AFA Council for over 30 years ago, he joined the AFA Board in 2003 and served as Chairman for a number of years.

John is also qualified as a Referee in November 1971, and has received the AFA 30 Year Referee’s Award and the FA 50-year Award.

John is an Arsenal Season ticket holder.

Nominated Director

Bob Leeds

Bob first became involved with AFA football in 1969 when he played for the Chartered (later Standard Chartered) Bank in the London Banks League. He also served on the LBFA committee for many years until he left the bank in 1982 to join an FX money broking company which is where he met players from Old Finchleians FC, an AFA club that played in the Southern Olympian League. He was encouraged to join the Old Finchleians at Southover, becoming skipper of the 6th XI upon joining the club.

Bob eventually became secretary of Finchleians in the early 90s and joined the S.O.L committee around the same time, assisting mainly with the representative XI. He also served on the Old Boys Cup committee becoming secretary in 1992, a position he still holds to this day.

At Finchleians Bob started the schoolboys XI along with current club chairman Alan Nicholls, in an effort to encourage boys from Christs College Finchley their parent school, sharing driving duties in the school minibus around the grounds of London and beyond. By this time Bob had also taken over the reins of the S.O.L rep team. In 1999 the Old Finchleians joined the Southern Amateur League and Bob immediately became involved with their highly regarded representative team joining the committee at the same time. He was also manager of Finchleians 1st XI when they won the AFA Senior Cup in 1999.

Bob joined the AFA Council in 2000 as a representative of the Old Boys Cup, he was elected as chairman of council in 2022, and in 2022 he was elected President of the Southern Amateur League.

In 2003 Bob left the City and joined the AFA on the Football Development team. During this time voluntarily managing the AFA U16, U18 and senior sides, as well as his local youth team Potters Bar United.  He also worked tirelessly in conjunction with the FA to organise the National Futsal League South as well as organising the FA Futsal Cup for two years. Whilst at the AFA Bob gained his Level 3 (UEFA B) coaching licence and Level 2 GK certificate and became an FA Tutor delivering safeguarding children and Level 1 coaching courses. He worked at the Alliance for 16 years, retiring in 2019.

Bob is an Arsenal supporter, a keen cyclist and committed socialist.

Nominated Director

Jonathan Leese


Jonathan has been a Director of the Amateur FA since May 2011.

Prior to his appointment as a Director, Jonathan was elected as Chairman of BB Eagles AFC in 2007 – a position which he kept until 2018 - and as Treasurer of the Southern Amateur League in 2008, a position he still holds.

In 2018, the AFA elected Jonathan as their Representative to The FA Council. In that forum, Jonathan served on the FA Development Committee and the National Game Finance Committee.

Jonathan is now Vice-Chair of the FA Development Committee and also chairs the FA Walking Football Advisory Group.

In 2021, The FA proposed Jonathan as a new UEFA Match Delegate. By the middle of 2024, Jonathan had completed more than 15 UEFA assignments across Europe in matches in the UEFA Nations’ League, as well as in the UEFA Champions League, Europe League and Conference League.

In his professional career, Jonathan works in Customer Success for one of the “Big Three” credit rating agencies in the Global Accounts Team.

Nominated Director

John Hollis