When the Football Association announced that Doncaster Rovers Belles were to be demoted from the Women’s Super League on 26 April 2013, it sparked huge anger throughout women’s football. Doncaster were six-time FA Cup winners, twice champions of the league’s top division and the only club to have continuously been in the women’s top flight since a national league system was formed in 1991. The decision to replace them with Manchester City, who had never played in the WSL previously, as part of a restructure to split the league into two tiers was met with criticism from Vic Akers, Arsenal’s general manager, who said: “I’ve spoken to all seven and we all feel what the FA has done is unjust – in my opinion it’s morally scandalous.” The FA decided which teams should play in each division through an independent panel that assessed clubs on their financial sustainability and Doncaster were placed in WSL2. They appealed but were unsuccessful, with the FA citing their inability to meet minimum facility requirements, alongside further concerns on their commercial and marketing strategies.
Former England captain Gill Coultard, who played for Doncaster for 24 years, expressed her shock at the decision and said: “People always used to say to us ‘there’s only one team in Doncaster, and that’s the Belles’.” Belles had enjoyed league success that male counterparts Doncaster Rovers had never experienced and Beth England, part of the Euro 2022-winning squad and reported to be the WSL’s most expensive player, recalled starting her career at Belles before moving to Chelsea in 2016. She said: “It shows sometimes money does pay because with the reshuffle, funding did come into it. At the time there were more up-and-coming clubs and it was difficult for Doncaster to match that.”
Two years after the decision was made, the club said the relegation actually stopped the club from folding because it encouraged local businesses to help save them. Gill Coultard said: “Clubs were not getting 200 through the gate, some were living hand to mouth. People may say it was better to be demoted, but it should never have happened.” Since then Doncaster have fallen to the fourth tier – the Women’s National League Division 1 Midlands – and currently sit second in the table.
Nick Buxton, manager of Doncaster since 2019, says some sliver of the old glamour remains and people still want to play for Belles because of their history. He looks to the future with a young squad aiming to exorcise the ghosts of the past through promotion back up the women’s football pyramid. Centre-back Izzy Trevillion was part of the Belles academy 10 years ago when the demotion occurred and now 20 and a first-team player, she says there is still an added weight which comes with the Belles name. Team-mate Izzy Gigg says: “Realising they were in the WSL, and one of the biggest in there, it is frustrating to see where they were then, where they are now and how hard it is to get back up there.” Despite all the anguish, Doncaster are still going – no mean feat given women’s football is littered with clubs who have fallen by the wayside – and former England captain Gill Coultard still has hope that “before I go, they will be back in the WSL”.