The FSA promotes the value of supporter and community engagement and helps
supporters' trusts to secure influence and become a constructive voice in how their club is run. There are around 50 clubs owned by their supporters including the first ever supporter-owned football club in the United Kingdom,
AFC Wimbledon,
Exeter City, and
Newport County, as well as clubs part-owned in partnership with supporters' trusts such as
Swansea City. The Stand Up For Choice campaign, previously known as the Safe Standing campaign, has received widespread political backing. At the 2019 UK general election all three major English political parties included a commitment to move towards
safe standing in their manifestos. Work on pilots of standing areas in the top flight which were to be explored after the publication of the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Rapid Evidence Assessment into the all-seater policy in 2019 were halted by the
COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and the subsequent restrictions on supporters attending matches. In 2020, partly in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the game but also as a result of long-standing finance and governance issues, the FSA launched the Sustain the Game! campaign. It calls for urgent action from the authorities to protect clubs throughout the country, for greater transparency and independent financial controls, and for the Government to deliver on its manifesto commitment of a 'fan-led review of football governance'. The campaign received cross-party political support, as well as backing from hundreds of supporter organisations and football industry figures such as
Jamie Carragher and
Henry Winter. The campaign launch came two months ahead of the divisive and unpopular 'Project Big Picture' proposals, which would have seen sweeping changes to the organisation of English football and which were ultimately unanimously rejected. At its 2020 AGM the organisation formalised the creation of a network to represent supporters in the women's game, on the back of work over the preceding 18 months which saw the creation of more than 25 supporter groups throughout the top four divisions of women's football. In 2022, local football supporters in
Bury, Greater Manchester were urged to vote in a poll, facilitated by the FSA, regarding a potential merger of the supporters groups of
Bury F.C. and
Bury A.F.C. The FSA said there was no "viable and sustainable alternative to the merger", which, if approved, could potentially see the eventual return of professional football to the town's
Gigg Lane stadium following Bury F.C.'s expulsion from the EFL in August 2019. == FSA Awards ==