The 2024/25 season has seen struggles for South Yorkshire powerhouses Sheffield United Women and Doncaster Rovers Belles, but does it suggest that the area has become a ‘black hole’ for women’s football?
This season, the landscape of women’s football in the local area has dramatically shifted, with several surprise promotions and relegations littered across the divisions.
Notably, Sheffield United Women finished rock-bottom of the Women’s Championship, picking up just one win in the campaign – but such a season hasn’t quite condemned them to relegation yet as they await the verdict on how Blackburn Rovers’ withdrawal from the league will impact them.
Doncaster Rovers Belles also slipped into relegation – dropping into the regional leagues for the 2025/26 season. This could impact the Belles’ use of the Eco Power Stadium, which would be far from ideal for the club who haven’t really had a place to call home recently.
Such a season has been full of misery for these two clubs, leading to a verdict that South Yorkshire is a ‘black hole’ for women’s football, as written by Nick Westby on The Yorkshire Post, but is this really the case?
Whilst money has taken over the women’s game, something that left South Yorkshire’s heavyweights unable to cope with the demands, the grassroots teams in the area have blossomed.
The increase in quality in the lower levels of the women’s football pyramid, particularly in South Yorkshire, will certainly have a positive long-term impact on the game, making each division more competitive as time goes on.
This has also seen the re-emergence of teams not relying on a predominantly men’s club to rely on funding – whilst it gives them a brilliant platform to compete at the highest level, the clubs’ priorities ultimately do lie within the women’s team. Take Barnsley Women FC for example – a self-sustainable team in the South Yorkshire area who are looking ahead to the new campaign, and have clear aspirations of promotion to the third tier.
London City Lionesses have provided the blueprint for independent women’s clubs, and this could hugely benefit clubs in South Yorkshire who place much importance in their women’s sides.
Whilst Brunsmeer Athletic and Handsworth both have men’s and women’s teams, their women’s sides have punched above their weight in recent years, with the former achieving a fantastic promotion, whilst the latter reached the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in their history, beating York City at a rowdy Oliver’s Mount. As well as London City Lionesses, maybe this is another model that could be met with success for clubs in South Yorkshire.
Sheffield FC also achieved the double, notching the EMWRFL title and the League Cup, and will be competing in the National League next season – yet another club that offers plenty of support for the women’s team, almost in equal quantities to their men’s side.
Whilst on the surface it has been a challenging season for women’s football in South Yorkshire, we are arguably seeing the pendulum swing towards a new and thriving form of football clubs. This should be the kick up the backside that some club’s require that providing a club with the kit and the name simply can’t be enough – they need financial, but most importantly, physical and tangible support from the higher ups, just like those in the independent clubs already get.
