Gathering with football chief at final game (5)
I believe the answer is:
ruche
'gathering' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'football chief at final game' is the wordplay.
'football' becomes 'RU' (I've seen this in other clues).
'chief' becomes 'ch' (abbreviation).
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'final game' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ru'+'ch'+'e'='RUCHE'
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ruche that I've seen before include "Pleated gathering of fabric" , "Piece of lawn" , "Pleated frill" , "fabric that's concertinaed" , "Decorative pleat" .)