Scrap Welsh women's football revamp, say Senedd members

Abergavenny players protest against the "unfair" decision

Plans to revamp the top flight of Welsh women's football should be scrapped, a group of Senedd politicians has said.

Three clubs are being demoted from the top tier to be replaced by two other teams - one of which is in the process of being set-up.

Senedd members accused the Football Association of Wales (FAW) of not being transparent about their "heart-breaking" decision.

The FAW said the clubs had known about the process for the last year.

The decision has united members from across the Welsh Parliament, with members of each party calling for the decision to be reversed.

Abergavenny, Caerphilly's Cascade Ladies YC and Briton Ferry Llansawel Ladies will drop to the second tier of the competition from the Welsh Premier Women's League.

They will be replaced by Barry Town United and The New Saints - the latter of which is in the process of forming its women's side.

The changes are part of the FAW's strategy to strengthen the domestic game in Wales.

There has been anger among some that well-established teams have been replaced with one that does not yet exist. Abergavenny had finished fourth in the league.

Laura Anne Jones said a "lack of weight" given to club performance was "bewildering"

In the Senedd on Tuesday three Members of the Senedd (MSs) called for the Welsh government to speak out - a minister said a colleague would be meeting with the organisation.

Welsh Conservative South Wales East member Laura Anne Jones said: "Teams across my region had been left disheartened and baffled by recent FAW announcements of which Welsh clubs are to be relegated."

She accused the FAW of a lack of transparency and a "equally bewildering lack of weight given to the sporting merit - the performance on the pitch".

Ms Jones said Abergavenny had achieved fourth in the league and were doing "very well against bigger clubs in the area".

"As the FAW, through the Sports Council for Wales, receives significant money from the Welsh government, it is therefore right that the deputy minister now intervenes," she said.

"I, alongside many people across this chamber, will now ask that she asks for clarity from the FAW and that they relook at this process."

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Plaid Cymru South Wales East MS Delyth Jewell said the teams affected were "proud and successful" and the decision had been "heartbreaking".

"Surely how teams perform on the pitch should be crucial to a decision like this," she said.

"This decision will have a significant impact on women's participation in football in these areas".

'United on this'

Labour Caerphilly MS Hefin David said "the FAW's ineptitude had done the service in this chamber of bringing together the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Labour party".

"We are united on this," he said, saying other members had also expressed their worries.

"We have got grave concerns about the effect this will have on grassroots football on South Wales East, which will have no representation in the women's premier league," Mr David said.

A joint statement signed by the three, the Tories' Peter Fox and Tom Giffard, Plaid's Sioned Williams, Luke Fletcher and Peredur Owen Griffiths, Labour's David Rees and Lib Dem Jane Dodds called for the decision to be reversed.

Lesley Griffiths, the minister for Welsh government business known as the Trefnydd, said it was a matter for the FAW as the national governing body for football.

But she said the deputy minister for arts and sport Dawn Bowden had asked her officials to meet with the FAW and to provide her with further information.

A spokesman for the FAW said the club licensing process for the new Tier 1 and Tier 2 leagues was communicated "over a year ago to all clubs".

"The FAW has been transparent with the clubs in terms of how much weighting was given to sporting merit from the beginning. The clubs never challenged that when the FAW was taking them through what they were being assessed on. Not one club questioned the process," he said.

"The aim of the changes is to make the top levels of the game in Wales more professional, building for the future and developing players and clubs. This is a new start for the league."

He added the new leagues and their brand will be unveiled in August.