Ladies last: the unjust double demotion of Sunderland AFC’s Lasses

Photo – old strip as you can tell – courtesy of Sunderland AFC Ladies

Imagine Watford or West Ham in the Premier League, and QPR and Nottingham Forest in the Championship, being told they were no longer wanted in their respective divisions despite having achieved safety in relative comfort.

Couldn’t happen, you’re thinking. Now consider the fate of the Sunderland Ladies football team. In wretched circumstances, victims of penny-pinching cuts wielded at Ellis Short’s bidding by our equally unmissed CEO, Martin Bain, they finished seventh top in the Women’s Super League , the highest English division in the female game.

And their reward for such sterling efforts: booted out by the FA. And not even allowed to compete in the WSL second tier, or Championship.

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Sixer’s way with the Ladies as Doncaster Belles stall Sunderland’s impressive march

No question, for Pete Sixsmith, of straight home for pipe, slippers and tea in front of Saturday evening telly after the welcome home win against Stoke City. Instead, he joined more than 1,000 others willing Sunderland Ladies* to a victory that would have clinched an outstanding achievement, promotion to the top tier of the Women’s Super League. It was not to be, but glory may well be delayed, not denied …

Photo courtesy of the Sunderland Women's Football Club*
Photo courtesy of the Sunderland Women’s Football Club*

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