HFA chief executive Jim Lambert is confident that the new County League will enhance the beautiful game in Herefordshire.

Clubs unanimously agreed for the current league to be dissolved at the end of the the 2015/16, with the new Herefordshire Football Association (HFA) County League taking its place. Lambert says the aim now is to attract a big name sponsor to help get it off the ground.

"We're looking for a main sponsor to support that league and we want to publicise football and encourage people to come in," said Lambert,

"We also want to provide as much information as possible to players, as well as clubs, and that will only probably come by getting a different registration system where we get as many email addresses of players so we can at least put a newsletter out to all of them, not just to a few league secretaries."

Lambert confirmed that the HFA will have a discount scheme with kit manufacturer Nike, which will include every club having free match balls.

"It's not the best deal because Nike are obviously looking to make profits, but we already have some very reasonable rates of what we are prepared to put into the leagues before we start," said Lambert.

The HFA chief also confirmed that the organisation will be looking at reducing club fines next season.

Ewyas Harold, Sinkums and Kingstone Harriers will all incur a £50 penalty for not attending Monday night's meeting, as set out in the current Herefordshire Football League rules.

"There will always be times where fines will be imposed, but huge fines are not the way to encourage clubs to play football if they're financially strapped," said Lambert.

"So, we are looking at other sanctions to try and encourage people to play."

However, Lambert admitted that the HFA won't be able to assist with some of the costs that clubs face, such as paying match officials.

"We would love to assist with some of those, but the pure volume of what we would actually have to pay out is exceptional," he said.

"I think we worked it out that, if you just looked at referees for Saturdays, you will probably be looking into the region of £25,000 to £30,000 for a season, which now County FA or sponsor is ever going to sustain.

"So, for those sort of costs, I'm afraid the clubs will have to bear it.

"We will have two different sections, Saturday and Sunday, but how many teams are in each league will depend on the make-up and what comes in.

"Clubs will have to affiliate to the HFA anyway and we will set it up in such a way that they can affiliate and join the league at the same time."

Senior 11v11 football has been on a steady decline for a number of years, with teams pulling out each season.

Belmont Wanderers and Tupsley both withdrew from Division One earlier this campaign, just months after gaining promotion from Division Three.

Ledbury Town manager Phil Preedy thinks there should be more teams in each league to make it more competitive and to sustain interest among players.

"There are two issues why football here is struggling – the financial side and the interest of players, so they've got to try and make it work," said Preedy.

"Clubs have got to raise a lot of money each season, so if the HFA can help with that, then it can be a massive assistant for clubs wanting to establish themselves.

"It is difficult at the moment, but there are more than enough players out there.

"But, if you are only playing 17 or 18 league games a season, the competitive nature is not there.

"I remember when the Herefordshire Premier was a strong league, but it's not that difficult to win now with only 10 teams in it.

"You've got one or two that are good sides, then one or two that are not as good.

"We've got to have a strong league to tempt the players to play."