The deadline for Women’s Super League clubs to apply to stay in the top two tiers next season closed last SBOBET Friday. Less than 50 days after announcing the controversial plans to restructure women’s football, clubs have had to submit details of how they will meet the new strict criteria set out by the Football Association that will see the establishment of a fully professional top tier and semi-professional second tier. The changes have brought a mixed response from clubs and now we have the first glimpse of their effects.
Last Tuesday the WSL 2 club Watford announced they would not be applying to remain in the new semi-professional league, instead choosing to drop down into the amateur Women’s Premier League. Two days later the WSL 1 side Sunderland, who reverted to semi‑professionalism this year, revealed they too would not meet Friday’s deadline, instead choosing to launch a “joint bid” (presumably with the WSL 2 side Durham or in partnership with a university) for the top flight in March alongside applications from the lower leagues.SBOBET
Then last Friday Yeovil, vocal opponents of the changes who have fought their way into WSL1 on a shoestring, announced they had submitted their application to stay in the top flight following weeks of campaigning, including crowdfunding. It is not clear whether they have reached the minimum investment level required.
At the first hurdle, clubs are beginning to fall by the wayside after concerns from the outset, and voices from across women’s football, that this would be the case.
A petition against the restructure by Tony Farmer, the founder of Chelsea Ladies in 1991, who has started the group FA WSL Fans United posed 19 questions to the FA and elicited a written response from Katie Brazier head of women’s leagues and competitions. However Farmer is critical of the reply. “If you listen to the radio interviews that Katie Brazier gave, her answers are almost identical to those in her reply to my letter, SBOBET
even though the questions are different,” he said. “It feels like a script.
