Southampton: Saints Women’s season cancelled due to Coronavirus

Southampton’s Women have had their FA Women’s National League season cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

All men’s and women’s football below the National League levels in England has been cancelled to ensure the safety of all involved.

This could only be the start of many competitions and fixtures being called off with players, staff and the watching public potentially in danger of contracting Covid-19.

For Saints’ Women, it will be a shame to see a promising season cut short.

They were top of their FA Women’s National League South West division and looking to secure their second successive league title.

They have made great progress under the guidance of Marianne Spacey-Cale so far and have the ultimate goal of reaching the Women’s Championship and Super League in the future.

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If they can continue in this way and keep gathering support from Saints fans, the sky could be the limit.

The club are said to be putting in a significant amount of money towards their women’s side, with the Daily Echo reporting that this is somewhere in the region of £1m.

This amount is likely to increase if Saints advance up the leagues and look to bring in a higher quality of player, but they also know that interest will surely increase as they progress too.

2019/20 saw big strides by the team anyway considering that they claimed notable cup wins against higher league opposition, reached a cup final and played their first game at St Mary’s Stadium.

In many ways, the formation of the women’s side of the club came at the perfect time.

Recent triumphs from the England National team have boosted women’s football in this country and shown that interest from the public is most definitely there.

Following the decision to call off all football below the National Leagues, it remains to be seen whether any of the other governing bodies will be forced to do the same.