MWFA have made some key changes to the girls and womens competition following a series of Forums involving representatives from all 17 Clubs who are passionate about and focused on girls and womens football.
As we move into 2020 we have made two key changes that are designed primarily to assist with the transition for all players from girls football to womens football and minimise the drop off of players, while improving the football experience:
Womens U18/1 competition
In 2020, the womens U18/1 competition will be played on a Friday night, the same as the boys U18/1.
This decision was made to assist girls who need to get weekend work or study as they move from school life to work/university. From a footballing point of view, it assists players who back up and play WPL, WAL football either to help teams that are short or transition into senior football. It also allows senior women playing football themselves to take a greater role in coaching and mentoring U18/1 teams at the clubs.
It also helps with referee appointments.
The move for the boys a few years ago has been extremely successful in achieving all of the above and we feel it will have similar benefits for the girls.
This was unanimously agreed by the female football representatives of the Clubs recently, but we wanted to make sure that all girls were aware of the change before registering for 2020.
WPL and WAL1 coupling
The Clubs and the MWFA has also agreed that it is time to work towards coupling the WPL and WAL1 competitions to take advantage of the benefits having squads in terms of development and team/club spirit.
The exact structure, including some changes to borrowing rules, will be known in the New Year when clubs nominate what teams they want to enter but the clear intention is to ensure that the clubs that have both a WPL and a WAL1 will be able to play together at 1pm and 3pm and have some freedom for players to move between the teams without disadvantaging those clubs that only have either a WPL or a WAL1 team.
