#doncasterbelles

Why Lewes FC Ladies are Mad to Join FA Women’s Championship

On pretty much every level the decision for Lewes

FC to apply to join the Women’s Championship, tier 2 alongside such luminaries as Manchester United, looks dismal.

Take the FA. They set the criteria that is crucial for all entrants to fulfil. Meeting these criteria will come at an enormous cost; money Lewes FC do not have. It begs the question, how did the FA reach the decision to give Lewes FC…

“The act of taking the first step is what seperates excellence from average” - B Coghill

The plight of Doncaster Rovers Belles is a story worthy of Hollywood. However, I think that this is just the beginning of something great for women’s football in this country as a whole, and not just a return to where they have come from for one team. 

I don’t think the significance of what the Belles are doing has been fully appreciated and my intention is to comment on what I think will happen and match it to the reality. This is my first of three blogs intended on this subject.

“An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great.” 

As we know in 2013 the Belles were cruely relegated by the FA. Through some quality signings and a lot of hard graft the Belles managed to secure a promotion place at the end of this season, coming second only to Reading FC. This alone appeared to complete the full circle fairy tale. However, In October of this year we caught wind of an exciting project being announced by the club. The term “Proect Phoenix” being floated around social media, The rumour mill was flying as to what it could be, and I for one did not predict what it actually was.

On the 7th of October 2015 the project was revealed and a multi million pound personal investment by chair lady Faye Lygo and her husband Carl came to light. This investment was to provide a training facility, the likes never seen in this country specifically for a women’s football team ( maybe even into women sport as a whole). The Belles will have full time use of the state of the art training facilities, coupled with ten of the players getting full time professional contracts. My thoughts can only be that the players at this club are going to develop as footballers and professionals at such a rate that it is gonna force other clubs to follow suit with trying to get similar investment into them. This will then drive the game forward at a much more accelerated rate. The better the investment, the better the quality of the players, the better the quality of the game, the better media coverage and so the cycle begins again, It feels like we are stanfding on the precipice of something huge and i just hope that great things come from this. The Belles once again being the pioneers of this great sport.

Up next - Long Gone Silver!  The story of the shambolic Continental Cup Final