David Bernstein, Chairman of the Football Association, paid a visit to Kent FA at the weekend.

He was here to view best practice in the counties and kicked off his day with a visit to Aylesford FC, where he watched an U11 game between Aylesford and Castle Colts.

“It’s great to get out of the office at Wembley and really get to see grassroots football in action,” said Mr Bernstein.

“I wanted to come to Kent FA because it has a growing reputation as one of the countries’ most forward thinking and successful counties for football.”

More than 45,000 people play football in Kent every week. Latest FA figures show that nearly 85% of our youth teams in Kent now have an FA qualified coach.

“I’m really impressed with what I’ve seen here at Kent FA and at Aylesford FC,” said Mr Bernstein. “This is one of a number of Charter Standard clubs in the county. It’s great to see the tremendous facilities here and the boys playing football in such high quality, safe surroundings.”

Following the visit to Aylesford FC, next stop for David Bernstein was Priestfield Stadium where, accompanied by Kent FA Chairman Barry Bright and Chief Executive Paul Dolan, he watched Gillingham FC beat Oxford United 1-0.