'199-mile round-trips for away games is unsustainable'

Brunsmeer Athletic Women's Team only formed in 2022 and are now competing in Tier 5 in the North East Regional Womens Football League [Trevor Fox]

Anyone driving on the A1 on a freezing night in February would have surely offered a sympathetic nod towards a group of women stranded at the side of the road.

The coach taking Brunsmeer Athletic Women's first team back from their match against Sunderland had blown a tyre, leaving the players huddled together in the cold for two hours - just one peril of taking the regular long trips up and down the A1 which have become the norm for the team from Dore, in Sheffield, this season.

Despite forming in 2022 and playing their home games at Hillsborough College in Sheffield, the Football Association (FA) placed the team in the North East Regional Women's Football League for the 2025-26 season, meaning regular visits to places such as Thornaby, Alnwick, Ponteland and South Shields, as well as closer locations like Bradford and Harrogate

As a result, Brunsmeer Athletic's travel costs have so far reached £6,000 in coach fares this season - and for a team not bankrolled by a rich football club, and one that relies on limited sponsorship, it has left them with a difficult decision: either fold or relegate themselves to a division closer to home.

The team found themselves stranded on the side of the A1 returning from Sunderland after a tyre blew on their coach [Andy Harper]

Striker Nat Shaw, 36, previously rubbed shoulders with some of the greats of the current women's game, including Rachel Yankey and Alex Scott.

Shaw's career has taken her to the highest level with Arsenal and Doncaster Belles, and later Sheffield United and Barnsley, who folded in 2025 after financial difficulty.

She now works for an autism charity and has played for Brunsmeer in Tier 5 for the past two seasons.

She says: "I keep telling the girls, they should be really proud of where they've got to.

"We've practically no resources and we're playing against teams with five coaches, analysts, a physio and players in high-tech equipment showing how far they've run.

"We didn't even have a manager that day [the tyre burst] - he was on holiday. We joke we're like the Dog and Duck team."

'Unsustainable cost'

Brunsmeer Athletic has a rich history in grassroots football in Sheffield.

Formed in 1967 after players at Meersbrook and Brunswick Church joined together, the club now runs 26 teams including men's, boys' and girls' teams.

The women's team formed in 2022, breaking away from Rotherham United's women's reserves.

Manager Trevor Fox has led the group to two promotions, moving up from Tier 7 to Tier 5.

This season, although the team has sometimes struggled on the field against more established clubs such as Huddersfield Town and Bradford City, the biggest hurdle has remained the long journeys.

The team will have racked up over 2,000 miles (3,220 km) on the road, with an average of 199 miles (320 km) per round trip for away games.

Fox says: "The unfortunate thing is that because of the travelling, many of the players have decided it's too big a commitment.

"We're a small grassroots club. All the funding we receive is via sponsorship. The travelling is an expense we didn't account for.

"It's costing us the best part of £6,000, which for a team of this size is unsustainable."

While Brunsmeer Athletic currently sit in 10th place in their division, just above the relegation zone, two other teams - Hull United and York Railway Institute - have already succumbed to the financial pressures and folded in the past two years.

Carly Gill joined Brunsmeer from Dronfield Town for the 2025-26 season [Carly Gill]

The long journey time has also proved a physical strain on Brunsmeer's players, who juggle football with full-time careers.

Among the players are accountants, teachers, a scaffolder and several parents with young children.

For civil servant Carly Gill, 42, the oldest member of the team, playing in Tier 5 has been a hugely "rewarding challenge" - but a challenging one, too.

"It's really testing on the body when you're sat on a coach or minibus for between two and three hours," she says.

"The shortest journey for us is around two hours and 45 minutes, so it's a long time to be on a minibus to then get out, start warming up, play and then travel back again. We're doing 12-hour days."

Gill previously played and coached for 15 years at Dronfield Town FC in the East Midlands Regional Women's Football League.

Last year, Brunsmeer applied to join that league at Tier 5 level, playing against local rivals Chesterfield, Rotherham United and Mansfield, but were turned down.

Last year, Brunsmeer were promoted to Tier 5 of the football pyramid [Andrew Harper]

While recruiting players has proved difficult, finding coaching support for manager Fox has also been tricky.

Most Sundays are spent away from home all day, meanwhile his wife, Karen, washes the team's kit.

Andy Harper, who has 17 years of experience in the women's game coaching at Sheffield FC among others, volunteered to support Fox for the season, but says the FA needs to "rethink" football at this level.

"The FA needs to stop focusing on the Women's Super League at the top and deal with real women's football and organise it properly.

"You don't need to be super-intelligent to work out that some of these trips are ridiculous.

"Instead of having two leagues - North and South - where there's massive travelling, why not have four leagues more regionalised?"

A spokesperson for the FA said: "Once promotion and relegation takes place each season, we review each tier of the Women's Football Pyramid to ensure that clubs are allocated to the most appropriate league.

"This allocation is based on geographic location, travel times and distances, and takes into account the views and requests of clubs.

"The allocations are made to give the best possible outcome for the maximum number of clubs."

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Related internet links

• The Football Association