Until 1977 the Administration of the Association was carried out by various voluntary Secretaries running the organisation from their home address. The last voluntary Secretaries were Eric Babington 1964-1976, Ron Warke and Owen Venning, 1974-1975. The first full-time General Secretary, Owen Venning started in 1974, following the death of Ron Warke when he relinquished the editorship of “The Football Referee” magazine.
He was succeeded by Jim Taylor in 1984 and then by Arthur Smith in 1992. On 8 October 1977 the first RA office, a rented property at Kingswinford, was opened by the Minister of State for Sport, Denis Howell MP, a member of the RA. Gradually these premises were outgrown. In 1989 the Association purchased the leasehold hold property at 1 Westhill Road, Coundon, Coventry and on 24 November 1990 the new office was opened by the Lord Mayor of Coventry.
Secretaries of the Overseas and Services Division have been Dixon Barker 1931-1939 & 1946-1950, C.W. Coward 1950-1951, W. Vine 1951-1961, D.G. Paget 1961-1968 and Alan Robinson 1968-2004. In 2004 Len Randall was appointed as the RA Board member responsible for overseas members 2004, followed in 2007 by Ray Mallery
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