Liverpool Feds’ plight a warning of trouble in women’s football pyramid
Game may be in rude health at the top level, but cases of Solihull Moors and Liverpool Feds offer a stark contrast
In harsh contrast to the upcoming England versus Germany fixture at Wembley, the ever-nearer possibility of the first million-pound transfer fee, and the six-figure salaries some players enjoy at the top of the Women’s Super League (WSL), the news earlier this month that the entire coaching staff and several players of the women’s team at fourth-tier Solihull Moors had resigned over alleged neglect of the team’s entire programme served as an important reminder that all is not as rosy as it may seem in the English women’s football pyramid.
Last weekend’s headline WSL fixture between Arsenal and Chelsea attracted a crowd of 45,860 and was broadcast live on BBC One, but that will have felt a world away for a club such as Liverpool Feds, who are positioned just outside the top-30 women’s clubs in the country within the pyramid. As a third-tier club, currently sixth in the Women’s National League Northern Premier Division Table and competing with men’s Premier League-backed brands such as Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Liverpool Feds are run entirely by volunteers. The club was formed in 1990 and currently have close to 200 players, of ages ranging from six to 60, including a walking football section. But their women’s first team is unable to pay players’ expenses, let alone pay players or staff wages.
