The previous chief govt of Thornaby has spoken out to deal with “misconceptions” over the closure of the membership’s ladies’s part.
Trevor Wing was considered one of six individuals who resigned from the Teesside membership’s nine-strong committee on Monday after voting in favour of shutting down the ladies’s workforce, a choice which prompted widespread criticism together with from England ahead Beth Mead.
Wing stated the choice had been “portrayed as a sweeping and callous move” however the actuality was much more complicated.
Wing disputed a social media put up from Thornaby FC’s ladies’s part which stated the whole ladies’s and women’ part had been eliminated, saying the committee had not voted to shut down the ladies’s junior groups, which he stated have been “self-sufficient” and will have continued.
He added that the choice to close down the senior ladies’s workforce “was not taken lightly” however that it had change into evident that working a males’s and a ladies’s workforce was “financially unsustainable”.
“I feel it is important to clarify the situation and address some misconceptions,” Wing stated in a press release.
“The choice to discontinue the ladies’s first workforce and junior groups has been portrayed as a sweeping and callous transfer, however the actuality is extra complicated. Monetary constraints have positioned vital strain on our membership.
“After extensive discussions and deliberation with all stakeholders, it became evident that maintaining both the men’s and women’s first teams was financially unsustainable.
“Given the men’s team has been an established part of Thornaby FC since 2000, the difficult decision was made to prioritise its continuity.
“You will need to be aware that the ladies’s junior groups have traditionally operated independently, utilizing the Thornaby FC title and badge whereas enjoying at numerous different venues.
“These teams were self-sufficient and their operation could have continued under the same model.
“It must be recognised that Thornaby FC has not had male junior groups for a number of years, additional highlighting the monetary limitations we face.
“My commitment to women’s football spans over five decades including 16 years of volunteer service at Thornaby FC and 15 years with the North Riding County FA.
“I’ve actively promoted ladies’s soccer, serving as a coach (and) secretary for Middlesbrough Girls and as a consultant on the FA’s Ladies’s Committee it’s deeply disappointing to be mischaracterised as somebody towards ladies’s soccer by those that don’t absolutely perceive my historical past or the entire context of our choice.
“The decision was not taken lightly, and it was made with the club’s long-term stability in mind. I remain dedicated to supporting and promoting women’s football and hope that the community will continue to support Thornaby FC through these challenging times.”
The ladies’s workforce had been enjoying within the North East Regional Ladies’s Soccer League – tier six of the soccer pyramid.
Arsenal and England striker Mead, who was born in close by Whitby, described it as a “horrible” choice.
The Labour candidate for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, Andy McDonald, stated on Monday that the remaining committee members needed to retain a feminine workforce and “build a new diverse and wide-ranging board alongside representatives from the women’s team”.
The Soccer Affiliation was “very disappointed” and stated its native department, the North Using County FA, was involved with the membership.
