1. Name
The Association shall be called ‘The Scottish Schools’ Football Association’, hereinafter referred to as ‘The Association’.

2. Mission Statement
The purpose of the Association is to work with schools to support and promote pupils’ wellbeing through the medium of association football and related experiences, and to engage in relevant charitable enterprises.

3. Membership
Membership of The Association shall be open to schools and to appropriately constituted Local Associations based in Scotland.

Any Local Association desiring membership shall apply, through the General Secretary, to the Executive Committee of the Association which, subject to the approval of the Annual General Meeting, shall have power to accept or reject such application. As a condition of membership, each local association shall satisfy the Executive Committee that it is a properly constituted association promoting football according to the Scottish Football Association rules, as modified by the Cup and Shield Competition Rules of the Association and incorporating the Association’s determination of eligibility set out in the Cup and Shield Competition Rules of the Association.

In addition to affiliating to the Local Association, each school must also affiliate directly to the Scottish Schools’ F.A. in order to:

(a) participate in any Competition organised by this Association
(b) enable pupils to participate in trials leading to the selection of National Squads

The Executive Committee shall have power, however, to confer associate membership on any school which, for reasons acceptable to the Executive Committee, is not a member of a Local Association. Such membership shall entitle individual schools to (a) and (b) above, as appropriate. Such schools shall be:

a) bound by the Constitution to the extent that the articles are applicable and
b) bound by the Cup and Shield Competition Rules.

They shall have no right to representation at General Meetings or on the Executive Committee of the Association.

Any school desiring to become an Associate Member must apply not later than the 31st May in any year to the General Secretary, setting forth the reasons for desiring such membership, and enclosing the Affiliation Fee and Entry Fee(s) for competing in the appropriate competitions. In the event of the application being refused, all fees will be refunded.

Membership of The Scottish Schools’ Football Association confers registered membership of The Scottish Football Association.

Schools in membership of Local Associations affiliated to this Association are not permitted to become members of any other National Schools’ Football Association or Schools’ Football Federation.

Additional Categories

Life Membership shall be from time to time conferred on school teachers who have spent a lifetime working for the betterment of Schools’ Football in Scotland. Life Members shall be eligible for such entitlements as may be determined by Executive Committee.

Honorary Patronship shall be from time to time conferred on persons who, by virtue of their personal contributions to and enthusiasm for Schools’ Football, despite not being members of the teaching profession, are deserving of recognition. Patrons shall be eligible for such entitlements as may be determined by the Executive Committee.

Honorary Vice-Presidency shall be from time to time conferred on former members of the Association who have served at the highest level for more than 25 years. Such award is on the recommendation of Executive Committee and Management Committee and shall be an appointment for life. Honorary Vice President(s) shall be eligible for such entitlements as may be determined by Executive Committee.

4. Local Control
Local associations shall organise fixtures in the areas for which they are responsible and must agree to abide by the Cup and Shield competition Rules of the Association and by the decisions of Management Committee or of any committee thereof in respect of matches under the direct control and jurisdiction of the Association. For breach of the Rules or non- compliance with any decision of Management Committee or of any committee thereof, the Management Committee shall have power to suspend or expel any local association from membership.

5. Chairmanship of Meetings
General meetings shall be chaired by the President, failing whom the Vice-President, failing whom a nominee of the meeting.

Committee meetings shall be chaired according to the terms for that Committee as set out in this Constitution. If the designated Chairman is not available, then the meeting shall be chaired by a nominee of the meeting.

At all meetings, the Chairman shall have a deliberative and a casting vote.

6. Annual General Meeting
The Annual General meeting of the Association shall be held in June each year on a date and at a venue to be decided by the Management Committee.

The business of the meeting shall be as follows:

(a) to consider the General Secretary’s Report.
(b) to consider the Treasurer’s Report and Statement of Accounts.
(c) to elect the Office Bearers.
(d) to elect the Association’s Representative to the Scottish Football Association.
(e) to elect the Executive Committee.
(f) to appoint auditors for the ensuing year.
(g) to elect Life-Members and/or Honorary Patrons and/or Honorary Vice Presidents
(h) to admit Local Associations to membership
(i) to appoint International Staff
(j) to transact any other competent business.

The General Secretary shall give fourteen days’ notice to all local associations in membership of the place, day and hour of the meeting, and accompanying such notice shall be an Abstract of Accounts, duly audited, and also the Agenda of business to be transacted at the said meeting. Notice of any business to be submitted at the Annual General Meeting must reach the General Secretary not later than twenty-one days prior to the meeting.

7. Annual General Meeting – Representation & Attendance
Each Local Association in membership shall be entitled to send three delegates to the Annual General Meeting.
Delegates to General Meetings must be:

(a) teachers who are football representatives at local or National level; or
(b) teachers who are football officials at local or National level; or
(c) retired teachers who are football officials at local or National level.

In the case of (a) & (b), the schools in which they are employed must be affiliated to Local Associations in membership of the Scottish Schools’ Football Association.

In addition to delegates, the following are entitled to attend the Annual General Meeting:

• Office Bearers and members of the Steering Committee and Management
  Committee
• Life Members and Honorary Vice Presidents
• Members of the preceding year’s Executive Committee who are not delegates for a
  Local Association, such persons not being entitled to cast a vote at the Annual General Meeting

The quorum for the Annual General Meeting shall be 30 eligible persons present and voting.

8. Office Bearers
The following Office Bearers shall be elected annually at the Annual General Meeting of the Association:

President, Vice-President, General Secretary, Treasurer, International Teams Secretary, Competitions Secretary and not more than eight Assistant Secretaries, three of whom will be designated Assistants to the General Secretary, the International Teams Secretary and the Treasurer.

The immediate Past President will also be an office bearer of the Association during the term of Past Presidency.

Nominations for President and Vice-President must be in the hands of the General Secretary not later than twenty-one days prior to the meeting.

The President and Vice-President shall be eligible for re-election but shall not hold the same office for more than two consecutive years.

All other Office Bearers are eligible for re-election unless notice has been given to the contrary, in which case timeous intimation shall be made by the General Secretary to Local Associations.

9. Executive Committee
The business of the Association shall be subject to the direction of the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee will be elected at the Annual General Meeting and consist of the following, all of whom have full voting powers at meetings of Executive Committee:

• The Office Bearers of the Association
•  The Association’s Representative to the Scottish FA and the Association’s
  Representative to the Scottish FA Congress
• One Representative of each Local Association in membership of the Scottish Schools’
  FA. Local Associations will be required to nominate an alternate member of the Executive Committee. In the event of a representative being unable to attend a meeting of the Executive Committee, the alternate member is eligible to attend and shall have full voting powers.

In the event of vacancies or particular circumstances, the Executive Committee will have the power to recommend the co-option of a member.

A minimum of two meetings of the Executive Committee shall be held during the period between Annual General Meetings. The quorum for Executive Committee meetings shall be 20 members present and voting.

The General Secretary shall give fourteen days’ notice to all members of the place, date and hour of Executive Committee Meetings, except in cases of urgency.

The Executive Committee may, according to circumstances, form a Sub Committee to consider any given item of business.

10. Steering Committee
The Steering Committee will be subject to the authority of the Executive Committee and be responsible for providing the Association with overall direction in its business connected with the context in which the Association operates. This includes, but not exhaustively, Scottish FA generated business, business relative to SAFIB, business generated by statutory bodies and matters of policy.

The Steering Committee shall comprise:

• The President, Vice President and immediate Past President
• All Honorary Vice Presidents
• The Association’s Representative to the Scottish FA and the Association’s Representative to the Scottish FA Congress.
• The Association’s Representative to SAFIB
• Up to 3 co-opted Non-Executive Members

The Steering Committee will meet periodically, according to the needs of business. Meetings of the Steering Committee will be chaired by the Immediate Past President, failing whom, a nominee from among those present.

Members of The Steering Committee shall have full voting powers at General Meetings and ex officio on all committees of the Association; they shall not be regarded as delegates for, or representatives of, their respective local associations or geographical areas.

11. Management Committee
The Management Committee shall comprise:

• the President
• the Vice-President
• the General Secretary
• the Treasurer
• the International Teams Secretary
• Assistant General Secretaries

The Management Committee may also invite any other member of the Executive Committee or Steering Committee to attend a meeting, according to the business of that meeting.

The Management Committee shall be responsible for the conduct of Association business, subject to the direction of the Executive Committee including:

• Ongoing governance of the Association’s operational business
• Association finances, according to the terms of section 12 below.
• the conduct of, and arrangements for the completion of, all competitions organised
  by the Association
• the conduct of all arrangements relating to the selection of representative squads
  and the playing of international fixtures
• the power to call Special General Meetings and Executive Committee Meetings as
  provided for in this document
• Child Wellbeing
• appeals and disciplinary matters

The Management Committee will meet periodically, according to the needs of business. Meetings of the Management Committee will be chaired by the Vice President, failing whom a nominee from among those present.

Members of the Management Committee shall have full voting powers at General Meetings, and ex officio on all committees of the Association; they shall not be regarded as delegates for, or representatives of, their respective Local Associations or geographical areas.

The Management Committee may, according to circumstances, form a Sub Committee to consider any given item of business.

12. Association Funds
The Treasurer shall be responsible for administering the funds of the Association.

All membership fees and subscriptions, income from matches and other revenue shall be forwarded to him. He shall keep a detailed account of all the financial transactions of the Association and shall submit a Financial Statement to the Executive Committee and to the Management Committee thereof when required. All accounts and claims must be authorised by the Management Committee before payment is made.

The Office Bearers shall be authorised signatories for banking purposes and authorisation of payments or withdrawals shall require two signatures.

The Treasurer shall pay to the members of the Secretariat an agreed sum as a petty cash float which they shall administer to defray the routine expenses incurred during the operation of their various remits.

On application, special grants may be paid to sub-committees or recognised bodies for particular purposes as authorised by the Executive Committee or the Management Committee.

The Treasurer of the Association shall close the accounts of the Association annually on the last day of May. Thereafter he shall prepare a Financial Statement which, after being submitted to the Management Committee and duly audited, shall be submitted for approval to the Annual General Meeting of the Association.

13. Appeals & Disciplinary Matters
The Executive Committee shall have control of Appeals and Disciplinary Matters, including the power to delegate consideration of any case to an appropriately elected Sub-committee or the Management Committee, according to the nature and timing of the matter.

In its exercise of responsibility, The Executive Committee shall:

a) appoint Area Disciplinary Committees for the purpose of dealing expeditiously with
players, representatives or officials reported by referees or other competent persons, as having been guilty of offences, breaches of rule(s) and/or the Laws of the Game, misdemeanours or any other forms of improper conduct in matches played under the direct control and management of the Scottish Schools’ Football Association and to supervise the work of such committees
b) be prepared to offer guidance in respect of appropriate penalties to local associations and arising out of matches played under their jurisdiction
c) exercise, generally, disciplinary powers by way of suspension or by any other appropriate means, over schools and local associations officials of or representatives accredited to, or players participating in matches promoted by the latter or by this Association, subject always to the right of the school, local association, official or representative in question to appeal in writing to the Scottish Football Association within seven days of receiving notification of the decision, penalty or disciplinary measure imposed
d) consider any appeal made by a school against a decision of its local association or by a school or local association against a decision of an Area Disciplinary Committee established in terms of part a) of this Article
e) deliberate upon any complaint regarding the conduct of a member of the Association who is employed by or attached to a club in membership of the SFA or any other National FA. Such complaint must be made in writing to the General Secretary. The Management Committee shall have powers to take disciplinary action if deemed appropriate in such a case.

Local associations and schools must notify the General Secretary immediately of any form of disciplinary action, including suspensions, together with the nature and particulars of the offence for which such action was taken.

Any penalty imposed may be revoked, varied or confirmed by the Management Committee.
In such cases, an aggrieved school may exercise its right to appeal in writing, within three days of receiving notice of the decision of its local association to the Management Committee. Such an appeal must be sent via the General Secretary and must be accompanied by a fee of £50 which may be forfeited at the discretion of the Committee. In all appeals, the party against whom the decision is given may be held liable for all or part of the expense involved in convening the meeting, subject to the discretion of the Management Committee. Thereafter, if still dissatisfied, the aggrieved school may appeal to the Scottish Football Association.

Local associations have a similar right of appeal to the Scottish Football Association against decisions of any of the Association’s Committees.

14. Special General Meetings
A Special General Meeting of the Association may be called by:

• the Executive Committee or
• the Management Committee or
• on a requisition signed by one-third of the Local Associations in membership, such
  meeting being convened within twenty-one days of the lodging of the requisition. The requisition must state clearly and specifically the business for which the meeting is called.

At least fourteen days’ notice of a Special General Meeting must be given and the agenda for the meeting must accompany the notice convening it. The quorum for such a meeting shall be 30 eligible persons attending and voting. A Special General Meeting shall only consider the business for which it has been convened.

15. Constitutional Amendment
Alterations to and amendments of the Constitution can only be made at a General Meeting of the Association. Any amendments made at a Special General Meeting must be ratified by the subsequent Annual General Meeting. Notice of any proposed change must reach the General Secretary of the Association not later than twenty-one days prior to the meeting.

The retiring Executive Committee or Management Committee shall have power to propose alterations and amendments. For such alterations and amendments to become effective, they must receive at least 60% of the votes cast by the delegates present and voting.

16. Residuary Powers
Any matter relating to the affairs of the Association not covered by these Articles or relating to the interpretation of same shall be referred to the Management Committee.

17. Dissolution
In the event of a decision being made by a General Meeting of the Association to dissolve the Association, said decision requiring the support of two-thirds of delegates present and voting, then the same meeting shall determine the disbursement of residual funds upon dissolution, bearing in mind the Association’s objectives.

August 2021