You don’t need to look far in Welsh football opinion to find angry reaction to the FAW’s reorganisation of the Women’s Premiere League. I wanted, though, to look at the impact the announcement is already having on clubs, staff, volunteers and players. Ross Norgrove, of Briton Ferry Llansawel Ladies was kind enough to find time for a discussion. Ruth
Relegation is a strange beast. Sometimes it sneaks up on a team, other times it looms large all season with a dark inevitability.
This year, three teams in the Welsh Premiere Women’s League find themselves demoted to Tier 2 based on the FAW league restructuring. And others have seen their existing Tier 2 status dropped. The decision has caused significant online discussion. But I wanted to look more at the personal impact of the decisions, and what the teams have experienced already, and what they foresee around the corner.
Ross Norgrove, general manager at Briton Ferry Llansawal Ladies, explained that his players have been in tears and their mental health has suffered.
In fact, captain Lowri Riddings, herself a mental health nurse, said in an emotional statement shared via twitter:
‘As a team we have worked hard for many years to compete in the WPWL and to have it wiped from under our feet has severely impacted on the mental health of myself and the girls.’
Norgrove, who coached the team until last year but stepped aside so he had more time to concentrate on the detailed application process, explained that he is having difficulty understanding the outcome. The Club was described as ‘not having an elite player pathway’ despite having players involved with the Cymru underage teams. And that the team was not ‘considered competitive at the level’ despite three years in the league.
The FAW have offered to meet with the Club early next season to look at the way forward, and help ensure the Club ‘fills the gaps’ given in the outcome report.
Sponsorship Concerns
The team is also seeing an impact on sponsorship. Last season was the first where the first team were not expected to pay subs; sponsorship was found for all the players. Now the team is ‘less attractive,’ said Norgrove, and the interest in sponsorship has already dropped.
The Club is justifiably proud of their staff and coaching levels. Another new worry is being able to continue the level of training and verification that the Premiere League facilitated.
These issues are not unusual when relegation occurs, and any team facing relegation will experience such lows and concerns. However, as Norgrove explained ‘No one wants to get relegated, and if you finish bottom of the table and get relegated, you’re unhappy. But you accept it because the league doesn’t lie. But we finished comfortably clear of the bottom team.’
I asked Ross what would be helpful? Keep the issue front and centre was key, he felt; along with helping your local team in whatever way you can. A theme he mentioned often was that ‘The most important people in this are the players.‘ Football should never lose sight of its one true asset, the people that drive it.
