ALAN TURVEY looks back on his time as the Ryman League’s longest serving chairman with great pride as he reels off a list of ‘firsts’ the Isthmian League has introduced to football.
The first league to implement three points for a win, the first to use goal difference instead of goal average, the first league outside the professional game to become a limited company with a full time administration and of course the first to be sponsored after Rothmans got on board in 1973.
It’s an impressive list of accomplishments for the league and Turvey, who announced at the Ryman League AGM last Sunday at London Wembley Hilton Hotel that he would be stepping down in June 2015 after nearly 60 years involved the game firstly as a linesman and then referee followed by his time with the Isthmian League which began in 1978.
From fixtures secretary for Division Two to general secretary and the chairman just four years later in 1982, Turvey enjoyed a rapid rise to the seat he has held for 32 years.
The 80-year-old, who will remain as a director of the board and also stand for re-election as president of the league, said: “During my time as chairman, the league has expanded in clubs to the size it is today from 12 to 14 teams. We were a council back then and we’ve changed it to a committee and then a board of directors and have had our great sponsors Ryman since 1997.
“We had things like the restructuring of the football Pyramid which was a very low point for us as our best teams were taken and it was hurtful.
“We’ve now got 72 clubs, we run an Under-21 and Under-18 league as well as a disability cup competition, a women’s cup competition and a veteran’s competition so we’ve progressed.”
Turvey, who was honoured as one of the Football Association‘s 150 grassroots heroes by HRH The Duke of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace last year, will now spend more time with his wife Margaret and the rest of his family.
“It’s been a tough decision to make,” he added. “I love the job and will miss it but now I’ll get to see more of my family who wanted me to retire a long time ago!”
