THE Wiltshire League has become the first adult league in the county to be handed the FA’s Charter Standard award.

This accolade is given to a league in which 60 per cent of the members are at Charter Standard level, which is achieved by clubs attaining benchmarks in a number of areas.

These include having structures in place to improve the quality of players, keep discipline under control and perform complex administration.

Wiltshire League general secretary Jim Thorn explained: “It’s taken us the best part of a couple of years to get the clubs up to standard.

“It’s not as onerous a task for the adult leagues as it is for the kids’ leagues, but you have still got to get in touch with every club and make sure they have things like a constitution and qualified first aiders.

“It’s about trying to convince the teams that it’s worth their while to become a Charter Standard club and with a bit of persuasion we managed to do that.”

County secretary Mike Benson praised the Wiltshire League for attaining the award and revealed he was hopeful of getting others to follow suit in the near future.

“The Wiltshire League has done very well and it brings the standard up to a level approved by the Football Association, so everyone knows that the clubs that play in it comply with administration details, coaching details and medical details. It’s a good move,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ll get all the leagues to do it in turn but you have to appreciate that they are run by various volunteers and it takes time, especially when you have changes of personnel.

“Our aim is to get people playing and we’re quite pleased with the progress that all our leagues in the county are making.

“The North Wilts Youth League has done really well out of getting the Charter Standard award (in 2010) and there has been a big turnaround in discipline.

“Three or four years ago some of the parents used to be quite naughty but that hardly happens any more.”

The Wiltshire League will also receive the national FA’s bronze level accreditation for its support of the Respect programme, after being nominated by the Wiltshire FA.

Thorn added: “We signed up with the FA when they brought the Respect campaign in a few years ago and we’ve gradually introduced more elements to it.

“We’ve been working with clubs on that and the county FA recognised it by nominating us to the national FA.”