Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:28 pm on 8 June 2021.
Business Minister, I'd like to ask for a statement from the Deputy Minister for sport. I'm not sure if you're aware of the seismic change that's happening in women's football in Wales at present, but it is clear from cross-party discussions that I've had with other Members across the Senedd that everybody here has the main sole aim of improving women's football here in Wales and making sure it's both competitive and that it succeeds. I praise the Football Association of Wales for recognising the need for investment and reforming our women's game here in Wales as there is a dire need for investment in our clubs, and we do need to be more competitive in the UK and on a global stage. However, my praise there ends, business Minister, as the administrative relegation process that has been used to try and achieve this aim is both questionable and unfair.
Teams across my region have been left disheartened and baffled by recent FAW announcements of which Welsh clubs are to be relegated. There seems to be not only a lack of transparency in the process itself on how the FAW reached the conclusions of who is to be relegated, which raises many questions in itself, but also an equally bewildering lack of weight given to the sporting merit, the performance on the pitch. The prime example has to be Abergavenny Women, who in my region of South Wales East have achieved fourth in the league, are highly competitive, and are doing very well against bigger clubs in the area. Yet they have now been relegated, not because of their abilities on the pitch, because they've achieved fourth in the league, but perhaps a lack of support from the FAW in just filling out forms. Restructure and investment are needed in the women's game here in Wales, but not in this way. As the FAW, through the sports council for Wales, receives significant moneys from the Welsh Government, it is therefore right that the Deputy Minister now intervenes, and 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, particularly in this transitional year.
All credit to Dawn Bowden, the new Deputy Minister for sport, she has already asked for a briefing on this, but it is now right, Business Minister, that she now makes a statement on the process and future of this seismic change in women's sport here in Wales, and how the process, agreed cross-party, has fallen short, falling far short of the standards required of a Government body. Thank you.