What next for Ladies after FA's disruptive decision?
Sunderland Ladies saw their outstanding campaign brought to a swift conclusion on Thursday.
The decision was one of the first made by governing bodies as they respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.
So what’s happened and what comes next? We look at the key questions. What exactly has happened so far?
The FA announced a string of controversial decisions on Thursday afternoon that will have major consequences throughout football, in both the men’s and women’s game.
The National League steps three to six have seen their season declared null and void, with all grassroots football in the current campaign brought to an end. Crucially, it has alsodecided that in the women’ s game, tiers three to seven will also see their season declared null and void, with all results expunged.
It means that Sunderland Ladies will be denied the chance to seal what would have been a hugely cathartic and richly deserved title win, given the effort and dedication that has gone into rebuilding a side that was so significantly affected by the decision to demote into the National League North in the first place.
At the time of the decision, Sunderland were sat 11 points clear at the top of the table, and still had a game in hand on second-placed Derby County.
They had also advanced into the National League Cup final, which will now not take place.
The decision to expunge all results also means that a number of players will now likely have a number of significant landmarks essentially removedfrom the history books.
First goals, landmark appearances, debuts, all now gone. The wider landscape of the women’s game remains not quite so clear.
The top two tiers are separate from yesterday’s announcement and talks are continuing as to whether they will be able to resume and complete their seasons.
Given that they announced their initial postponement of fixtures in line with the men’s
Premier League and EFL, it would seem fair to surmise that they will try and maintain a consistent approach.
Whatever happens next, though, it is absolutely clear that Sunderland’s season is over. Why have they made this call over the other options?
In their statement, The FA said they had reached a consensus amongst the leagues.
They said that ‘primary concern will always be for the safety and welfare of clubs, players, staff, officials, volunteers and supporters during this unprecedented time.’
They also said that they took into account ‘the financial impact during this uncertain period’.
A number of clubs were eager to gain some certainty in terms of planning for the future, and ending the season now brought that.
So the next step, as the FA outlined, was to settle issues such as promotion and relegation‘fairly’ while‘ maintaining the integrity’ of the competitions.
According to The Times, the key reason the FA did not want to go down the route of basing the end result on current standings, or perhaps goingdown the route of deciding promotion and relegation in termsofpoints-per-game,was the disparity in terms of games played up to this point.
The schedule was significantly affected by a number of weather-related postponements earlier this season.
So, for example, in Sunderland’s division, Sheffield FC are adrift at the bottom, but have played four in some cases five less games than a lot of teams in the league.
It’s unquestionably a difficult and controversial call.
It risks teams clearly strugglingin their current divisions to go through another challenging season, and has major ramifications for clubs clearly capable of stepping up and would have been preparing for the possibility of doing so.
That leaves staff and players at clubs with very difficult decisions to make about their future in the game.
Would Sunderland have been guaranteed promotion?
Yes and no. At the end of the campaign, the northern and southern winners take part in a play-off game to determine the overall champion of the National League. In some seasons, only the winner of this has been able to apply for promotion to the Championship.
This was not the case last year, when both winners were ultimately promoted, and that was expected to be the case again this season with only 11 teams currently in the Championship.
However, teams can only be promoted to the second tier if they meet the FA’s strict criteria and are therefore granted a licence.
This decision is based on a number of factors, such as ground provisions and financial commitment.
Sunderland had begun this process with the FA as they pushed for promotion, but the outcome was not yet decided. So can Sunderland still be promoted?
This remains not entirely clear. The FA’s statement said that there would be‘ no promotionor relegation of clubs from tier three to seven ’, which does not bode well for Sunderland.
However, while entirely hypothetical, two things are worth considering.
One is that the Championship has not yet decided how their season will finish, and the other is that as mentioned, all licences in the second tier as subject to ongoing review and the continuous discretion of the league.
As is the case in all divisions, in both the men’s and women’s game, no one knows what positions clubs will be in a few months down the line.
Especially with only 11 teams in the league at present, it is not known what shape the Championship will take next season and whether there will still bean application process.
However, there is no guarantee this spot would go to Sunderland should such a process take place.