| Description | Football was a lifelong enthusiasm of Thompson's and he did an enormous amount of work for the Football Association over many years. He was on the FA Council from 1941, Chairman of the Instructional Committee, 1952-1957 and became Vice-Chairman of the Finances and General Purposes Committee in 1971. He later served as Chairman of the Association, 1976-1981 and was made a life Vice-President in 1980. Thompson also contributed greatly to international cooperation when he became a member of the Executive Committee of the Union of European Football Associations in 1974. For further details of Thompson's work for the Football Association see the account in R E Richards' memoir for the Royal Society (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society volume 31 (1985), pp 598-599.
The material is predominantly very recent from the period of Thompson's Chairmanship to the end of his life. There is correspondence with FA Secretaries, especially E A Croker, and extensive documentation of Thompson's contribution to FA committees and of his work for organizations such as the FA Youth Trust, the Disabled Sports Foundation and the Football Grounds Improvement Trust. Thompson was Chairman of the Football Association at what proved a very difficult time and many of the problems, especially hooliganism amongst football supporters, are well documented here.
Although most of the material is recent there is a small subsection 'Early Days' which relates to the Conference of County and Other Associations affiliated to the Football Association, 1943-1960
Thompson's work for the Oxford University Association Football Club (Treasurer from 1931 and President from 1953) and for Pegasus (the combined Oxford and Cambridge eleven formed by Thompson to play in the FA Amateur Cup Competition) is not documented in the present collection. |