Sheffield women’s football team fold after league allocation row

Striker Nat Shaw, who has previously played at the highest level for Arsenal and Doncaster Belles, said she is “gutted” for the players.

“The team are the best group of girls I’ve ever been with and it’s the biggest shame. I do feel it could have been avoided.”

Shaw is now considering her options and said some players would “leave the game” altogether.

Gill is also weighing up her future and may drop back down to Tier 7 as a player-coach for another club.

She said the FA’s decision “goes against” its own strategies to grown women’s and girls’ football by delivering vibrant leagues.

“The FA should think about the impact on player welfare, it’s excessive travel for players at amateur level football, and many of our team have young families.

“And these people become part of your social life as well. No club can take on 16 players, so we’ll all go our separate ways. It’s really difficult when our hand has been forced like this.”

In a statement an FA spokesperson said: “We recognise the challenges that clubs can face in relation to travel and we consider any allocation requests carefully.

“Every effort is made each season to strike the balance between allocating clubs to the most geographically suitable league possible and maintaining the necessary number of teams in each division.

“While divisional sizes cannot be changed during this process in order to maintain sporting integrity, clubs can also appeal against allocations. We remain in dialogue with Brunsmeer Athletic Women following their unsuccessful appeal to outline the next steps and support available to them.”