The FA...Doncaster Rovers Belles and the Womens Game in the UK.

By -




I have just finished watching the Womens European Championship opener between hosts Sweden and Denmark. It was a bit of a cracker and one played out before a packed house in Gothenburg.
For years I have felt that the womens game has not attracted the attention it has deserved , but the outstanding quality of play last night pointed to the fact that this part of the great game is in rude health , at least in Europe and America.
England for sure are improving at international level but it is hard to look beyond the Germans for the likely victors in the current tournament.
If we look at the game nationally, here in the UK, a familiar picture emerges, one of FA neglect and indifference mixed with an eye for a fast buck.
OK......the FA have launched a campaign recently ` Kick off Your Career' which is aimed at young women thinking of football as a career, but just what is on offer?
Should they progress via the scheme there is pretty much only the Super League  that  currently has the FA `s attention, and what of that!
Well.....BBC`s Jacqui Oatley recently  asked the question ` where are United' pointing to the absence of the Manchester giant from the womens game, which they left in 2005 so far not to return.  
Jacqui goes on to say that `Manchester City by way of contrast, take the womens game seriously', and indeed they do ( ask Doncaster Rovers Belles, who have taken the game seriously for 44 years now!)
A closer inspection of the recent history of that historic Club is however, as distressing as it is revealing .
Formed in 1969 , Doncaster Rovers Belles were pioneers of the womens game being founder members of National League in 1991 and the FA Womens Super League in 2011.
Then ...suddenly the FA issue a dictat stating that at the end of the current season, irrespective of where the Club finishes in the league, Doncaster Rovers Belles will be relegated and their place taken by Manchester City ( again irrespective of where that club finishes in the league below).
Doncaster tried to appeal, but the Appeals Panel decided that under the terms and conditions of `this administrative process`, no appeal was permitted.
Disgraceful hardly covers it, and it is no surprise that the turmoil has seen Rovers form slump -whose wouldn`t!
Doncaster Rovers Belles therefore, a Club steeped in the best traditions of the game, will thus be consigned  to the lower reaches of the game despite their consistent record of achievement....financial stability etc etc, to make way , in indecent haste, for the Eastland Gravy Train.
At a time when the womens game in this country should be on the up, there is a severe danger that, despite every Super League club being united in support of the Belles, that the FA will see it lurch into reverse.
The womens game deserves better!


Ian Brown

Comments

  1. hawkgreenfelts11 July 2013 at 14:05

    Being a Doncaster girl myself, I hate to see the Belles being treated in this way but unfortunately the sport is ruled by those Croesus-rich clubs like Man City.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown11 July 2013 at 15:23

    You might want to have a look at how the Australian version works - each of the A League teams (pretty much) has a team in the W League and they are very much part of the same set up. The whole A league set up dictates a club runs 3 teams - first grade, under 21st and women league. We don't get full TV coverage, but we always get highlights of the W League Newcastle Jets games on the TV news.

    Mike in Oz

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown12 July 2013 at 00:46

    Sounds like there is a desire to be supportive of the Womens game in Oz Mike, and I bet you have relegation and promotion via a merit system based on how a team finishes in their respective league, as well!
    So did the UK equivalent until the FA stepped in with this apalling injustice. I do not quite know how these suits sleep at night with such a calumny debited to them.
    Money is the driving factor of course as Pauline stated, and I fear a headlong dash for dosh will only result in the grass roots womens game in the UK suffering as a result.

    ReplyDelete
  4. carllygo12 July 2013 at 04:49

    If you would like to read more about the case the Belles have in relation to the FA http://blog.bpp.com/law/carl-lygo-why-im-backing-the-belles/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown12 July 2013 at 05:58

    Shared your link with other site Carl.....thanks for that -a truly depressing story!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous15 July 2013 at 06:24

    No team in Doncaster is ever going to have the resources of either Manchester giant. However,as the new management at the Keepmoat are ground-sharing and bringing together the men's and women's football teams, plus the rugby league side, it is hard to see why the Belles are seen as not having the infrastructure to stay in the top flight.Relegation on results is hard to take but this is outrageous. Cynical and depressing.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Top Posts

Simply Disgraceful !

By -
Simply Disgraceful ! This day will rank in infamy    with some of the darkest in our Club`s history- the owners of Stockport County have sacked Jim Gannon…..a dreadful decision......... totally bereft of merit, and one heralded by a shamefully inadequate announcement, as insulting to County fans as it is to Jim. Champions under Jim in our last completed season, fourth in the league after as impressive a win as any Club Chair could wish to witness from his team on Tuesday, despite the interrupted nature of the current season, and clearly playing well, so this smacks of something other than prudence or good decision making and as for being rational and fair………….. Sadly the Club`s owners rather added to the anger their foolish decision has already triggered, by stating that the decision was not results based, but based on `culture`.   Jim is a proven quality Manager , who knows what it takes to make County tick, has done so many times in the past, and   has forg...
Read more

Wrexham 1 Stockport County 2 ( Vanarama National League) 31 August 2019

By -
Image
“Where`s the goals gonna come from”-is a familiar refrain from those wanting County to ship in a new striker every other week, and County once again fully answered that one with “ from almost everywhere” as goals from defenders Sam Minihan and Ash Palmer secured all the points at the Racecourse Ground today against Wrexham. A 2-0 County lead at half time seemed to signal a rout, but Wrexham fought well upon the re-start and made a real match of it , albeit that an imperious display by County`s superb back line limited them largely to shots from distance. The defensive display from JG`s boys, in the second 45 minutes, if somewhat hard on the nerves, was again excellent , but a late goal to the Welshmen made the last few minutes tenser than perhaps they should have been. It all ended well however, as ,   with Festus Arthur on in place of Bell ,for his longest stretch of on the park minutes so far, and Mulhern on for Turnbull, marshalled by Keano and Palmer, ...
Read more

Notts County 2 Stockport County 1 ( Vanarama National League) Saturday 23 October 2021

By -
Image
        Perhaps expectations were a touch excessive, after all most visits to Meadow Lane usually result in a stiff test from a home side hell bent on victory. Today was no exception to this as County were outplayed for 94 and a half minutes of the 96 played, by a Notts County side drilled to do the basics correctly, and doing just that. Almost all their passes, no matter the situation, inevitably found a man in a black and white shirt who knew thereafter precisely what they should do with it, whereas if County had no shortage of possession at times, they appeared to be largely lacking a basic pattern to work to that went beyond the sideways pass, and the occasional long ball from Rooney. This resulted in Simon Rusk`s side trailing 2-0 two minutes into four added minutes, when unaccountably the previously immaculately drilled home back line pressed the panic button resulting in a County penalty ( 1-2) and a welter of frenzied County attacks and corners, but it ...
Read more