Cheshire FA are delighted to announce a new partnership with Sport Integrity Matters, who for the 2024/25 season will conduct all disciplinary investigations on behalf of the County FA.
 
Sport Integrity Matters (SIM) was founded by former FA Head of Judicial Services, Mark Ives, and provides support and independent advice to a number of County FAs on a range of disciplinary and governance matters.
 
Cheshire FA are committed to providing the highest levels of service to our stakeholders, and as such SIM will be working with us to conduct all disciplinary investigations on our behalf. 

The partnership will see SIM carrying out all disciplinary investigations, which will include liaising with the relevant parties to gather evidence. They will then undertake a review of the evidence and raise any necessary charges as determined under FA Regulations. SIM will also support and arrange the hearing process for Cheshire FA and liaise with clubs/leagues on any disciplinary related matters. 

The relationship with SIM has come following the departures of Garry Polkey and Jacob Viera, who leave for exciting new opportunities in their career. We would like to wish Garry and Jacob the very best of luck and thank them for their service to Cheshire FA. 
 
Our new partnership with SIM allows us to provide our clubs and leagues with continuity and continued professional service. As part of the process, Cheshire FA retain overall responsibility over discipline within the County.

Cheshire FA CEO, Steve Smithies, said: “We are delighted to be working collaboratively with Sport Integrity Matters on this exciting new venture. Their extensive knowledge and expertise on discipline and the wider investigation process will be vital as we move forward.  We appreciate the support of our grassroots football community as we move to working in partnership with Sport Integrity Matters.”

In the unlikely event that you are contacted to provide statements to support an investigation, we ask all our Club and Match Officials to assist SIM with their investigation as if you had been contacted directly by a member of County FA staff.

If you have any questions regarding disciplinary cases within Cheshire FA, please raise a ticket via https://help.cheshirefa.com/ and select Discipline as your query type.