Hopes dashed, dreams smashed, hearts broken.
While attention is currently focused on the men’s national team at Euro 2020, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) proposals to revamp the domestic women’s pyramid for the 2021-22 season have provoked a strong reaction.
Two clubs that currently play in the top tier of the women’s game in Wales – Abergavenny and Caerphilly-based Cascade – have been relegated after failing to meet new club licensing requirements (edit: Abergavenny Women did meet Tier 1 requirements but were rejected at a later stage – more explanation of the licence system below). This is despite them finishing 4th and 8th place respectively in 2020-21.
In a sign of a new friendlier atmosphere in the Senedd post-election, there’s a cross-party consensus that this is an “injustice”:
“Abergavenny Women….achieved fourth in the league, are highly competitive and are doing very well against bigger clubs in the area. Yet they have now been relegated, not because of their abilities on the pitch….but perhaps a lack of support from the FAW in just filling out forms.”
– Laura Anne Jones MS (Con, South Wales East)
“I realise that the reason for the restructuring is meant to be about strengthening the domestic game in Wales, but I’ve had constituents contact me to question the process, to ask why sporting merit….played such a small part in the scoring system, because surely how teams perform on the pitch should be crucial to a decision like this.”
– Delyth Jewell MS (Plaid, South Wales East)
“We’ve got grave concerns about the effect that this will have on grass-roots football in South Wales East, which will have no representation in the women’s premier league.”
– Hefin David MS (Lab, Caerphilly)
First of all, it’s worth looking at the FAW’s proposals in a bit more detail.
Places were awarded in the new top and second tiers based on club licensing.
- Club licensing was introduced by UEFA in 2000 and has been used in the men’s domestic pyramid for several years.
- Women’s clubs were to be evaluated for either a Tier 1 licence (to compete in the new top tier competition) or a Tier 2 licence (to compete in the new regional second-tier competition).
- Tier 1 licence criteria are stricter than Tier 2. Clubs were evaluated on administration, facilities, key staff appointments, financial management and coaching standards. Sporting merit (i.e. how well the club did in the 2020-21 season) was not one of the considerations.
- Clubs that also aim to qualify for European competitions require an even stricter UEFA licence (four women’s clubs were awarded a UEFA licence for 2021-22).
- The process started in January 2021 (split into two phases). The first phase was the licence application itself, while the second phase was the presentation of a detailed club development & growth plan. Being awarded a Tier 1 licence in the first phase would not guarantee a place in the top tier by itself.
You don’t hear about licensing very often when it comes to the English pyramid men’s clubs because they usually meet requirements without a problem. It’s a bit harder in the Welsh pyramid – men’s and women’s – because the clubs have smaller budgets, are more often than not run on a semi-professional basis and the facilities usually aren’t great.
A similar restructuring of the men’s domestic pyramid took place before the start of the 2010-11 season. More recently, the FAW created the Cymru League North & South and the four regional Ardal Leagues below it.
The (men’s) Cymru Premier has also been gradually cut from 20 clubs when it was first founded, to 18 clubs, then down to 12. Men’s clubs have been relegated or denied promotion for failing to meet licence requirements – notably two-time champions Rhyl in 2011 and three-times champions Bangor City in 2018.
No MSs have complained about this as far as I can tell.
Women’s football in Wales does have a modest advantage over the men’s game (from the FAW’s perspective) in that nearly all women’s clubs play in the Welsh pyramid. There’s only one sizable women’s team playing in the English pyramid that I know of (Cardiff City Ladies – not linked to that Cardiff City).
This will naturally result in a big disparity off-the-field (perhaps on-the-field too). Teams which are women’s sections of the English pyramid and Cymru Premier clubs (Swansea City, Cardiff City, Barry, Cardiff Met., TNS etc.) can call upon more resources than stand-alone women’s clubs and women’s sections of lower league clubs.
There’s a debate to be had over whether administrative relegation – as Laura Anne Jones called it – should be allowed, but the licensing system is there to prevent smaller clubs over-reaching and disappearing altogether.
MSs should ask themselves this question: if a club’s administrators “can’t fill out forms correctly” is that club fit to compete in a top tier competition? It was a hidden test.
It would be difficult to deem what’s happening in the women’s pyramid to be particularly unfair. It’s a sign that the FAW is taking the strategic development of women’s football seriously. They’re also avoiding the mistakes of rugby union by maintaining a club-based system as well as promotion and relegation.
The disappointment of the clubs involved is understandable. The relegated teams deserve compensation and/or the FAW should (if they don’t already) have a programme for clubs with aspirations of competing in the top two tiers to meet and exceed licence requirements before applying. Nonetheless, it’s unlikely that a political over-reaction will help the development of women’s football in the longer run.
What do you think?
Have the FAW been too heavy-handed with their licensing system for women’s clubs?
Or should minimum standards off-the-pitch be expected for clubs competing at the top?
