“I’m playing in the FA Cup at the weekend.”
There aren’t many people in my life I didn’t tell about getting to play in the Women’s FA Cup. Family, friends, colleagues, they all heard about it. Four months after my tier seven team, South London Women FC, were knocked out of the competition by two-time winners Fulham, I’m still talking about it.
The biggest domestic knockout competition in England is open to clubs from all seven tiers in the women’s football pyramid. The top tier is the Women’s Super League, a fully professional league comprising teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City. The seventh tier comprises the amateur county leagues, with teams in the Premier Divisions eligible to enter the FA Cup.
Still a fledgling competition, especially compared to its men’s equivalent, the Women’s FA Cup launched in 1970, and was run by the Women’s Football Association (WFA), a voluntary organisation, until the Football Association (FA) took over in 1992. It is the only competition available to lower-tier clubs in the women’s game that offers prize money. The men’s game has three FA competitions that offer prize money: the FA Cup, and the FA Trophy and FA Vase for non-league clubs.
Though prize money can have a big impact on lower-tier teams, it’s not the main motivator for grassroots players. It’s simply about getting the chance to play in a famous competition.
“Playing in the FA Cup is an actual peak football moment. I’d never have imagined it was possible for me to play in it,” says Ruth Orbach, one of my teammates at South London Women FC.
“Every game is special. You can feel it across the whole squad and the entire club. It’s also an opportunity to come up against serious opposition in other leagues and to find out that we can hold our own, which we have done several times against higher-tier teams.”
Those special opportunities may be a thing of the past soon, though, with the FA threatening to take them away from tier seven players.
In January, “following a strategic review of the competition”, the FA held an online meeting with “a suite of recommendations” presented to those in attendance, intended to be representatives from clubs in tiers five, six and seven nationally.
The meeting was titled “FA Cup Consultation”, but consisted of a presentation detailing the round of 32 bracket and seeding proposals, with no mention of the plan to cap entry until an attendee asked a question about potential changes to entry requirements.
The Greater London Women’s Football League (GLWFL), where South London Women FC’s first team plays, contacted all county leagues’ club secretaries and chairs to determine the extent of the consultation with them as affected stakeholders. As of writing, based on replies received from 17 of 35 County League contacts, no league or club representative was involved in any consultation specifically about the proposal to cap entry. In fact, the correspondence from the GLWFL was the first that many had heard of it.
While insisting that ‘consultation’ with affected stakeholders had taken place, the FA fell short of clear communication and providing reasoning for the changes suggested. Those most directly affected by the entry tier review were left in the dark.
The women’s game remains in a critical growth phase 56 years on from the ban on women’s football, something it is still recovering from, in terms of infrastructure, opportunities to play, priority pitch and facility bookings and the professionalisation of the game.
Growing the women’s game is something the FA has consistently committed to, even more so as part of the legacy of England’s back-to-back successful title runs at the European Championships. Restricting entry to the FA Cup would put a barrier in the way of women’s participation in the sport.
There are approximately 180 teams in tiers five and six, and 335 in the Premier Divisions of tier seven. Fewer than 40 people attended the call in January. That turnout is barely a fraction of the clubs and players at the lower end of the women’s football pyramid.
On Thursday, the FA announced they were delaying their original timeline to implement changes for the 2026-27 season. At an online meeting hosted by the GLWFL for County League representatives the same day, attendees again expressed their dissatisfaction with the FA’s communication.
In their statement, the FA said they “listened to the feedback” and “understand how much the competition means to clubs, players and fans across the pyramid.” Final proposals were initially due to go to the FA Board in April, but will now be presented at a later date.
This is welcome news in the short-term, especially as it gives stakeholders in tier seven the opportunity to be actively involved in the conversation now. Hopefully with more time comes more communication.
The FA Cup brought my club’s community together in a way my club had not experienced before last season. When we made our debut in the competition, club members and friends organised sign-making nights, we booked coaches to travel to our far-flung away ties in Kent and on the south coast – 90-mile and 130-mile round-trips, respectively – and sang songs for each squad member, which were devised over pre-match brunches.
When we were drawn against Fulham in the first round proper this season, our WhatsApp group started to pop off: hopes we’d play at Craven Cottage, pleas for sufficiently pumped-up balls and suggestions that the squad arrive in the same training kit so we looked more professional.
We were a little optimistic in thinking we’d play at a Premier League stadium, but the match day at Fulham’s training ground, Motspur Park, was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had as a player. It might not have been my greatest performance – as the lone striker, I touched the ball ten times, with four of those touches coming from kick-offs – but I was so proud to walk out onto the pitch with my teammates for an FA Cup match against a team three tiers above.
We knew we were in for a tough afternoon, but as our teammate, Cassie, said in the huddle before kick-off: “What if?” That’s the joy of the FA Cup, isn’t it? Being able to dream. It’s what sport is all about.
Although that particular dream didn’t last long (we conceded twice in the first ten minutes), we weren’t daunted or disheartened. How could we be, with 100 fans in the stand cheering our every touch, waving handmade cardboard signs and singing our names?
The FA’s proposals in their current form would mean the stories and experiences of amateur players, which provide an extraordinary layer of the competition’s magic, would be lost. The development of clubs would also be stunted.
Prize money from the Women’s FA Cup is a vital source of income, helping some clubs on their quest to move up the pyramid while keeping others afloat.
Many clubs rely on sponsorship, fundraising and memberships. At South London Women FC, our outgoings each season total approximately £30,000, and that figure is rising each year. We have an annual club membership fee of £150 per player and pay £6 match subs. Through progression to the First Round Proper of the FA Cup in 2024-25 and again in 2025-26, we have benefitted significantly from prize money, securing upwards of £20,000 – a huge sum of money for an independent, not-for-profit club without a home ground and run by volunteers. It has meant we have been able to grow as a club and offer more women the opportunity to play the game.
The FA Cup is so much more than just a trophy and a showpiece Wembley final for those involved in grassroots women’s football. It’s the chance to be a part of something bigger.
It’s travelling to new grounds, maybe a stadium for the first time, and testing yourself against different opposition.
It’s your teammate’s two-year-old son getting to watch his mum and football aunties play in a competition that international players play in.
It’s convincing friends and colleagues who weren’t really into women’s football to come along and experience the game.
It’s getting on a team coach when you’ve never had one before, singing songs about the driver and gifting him a crate of cider for taking a detour to your local pub on the way home.
It’s community.
It’s opportunity.
It’s those ten touches… and dreaming of the next one.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Premier League, Soccer, Women's Soccer
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