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# Lichfield Ladies appeal for place in new elite rugby competition is rejected
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/lichfield-ladies-appeal-for-place-in-new-elite-rugby-competition-is-rejected/
- Published: 2017-04-28T14:29:43.000Z
- Updated: 2017-04-28T14:29:43.000Z
- Description: Lichfield Ladies have had hopes of a place in the new elite rugby competition after their appeal was rejected.
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: Sport, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 18:27

An appeal over the decision to leave Lichfield Ladies out of a new elite rugby competition has been rejected.

The city side had joined Thurrock in bidding to overturn [a decision to exclude them from the new Women’s Super League](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2017/03/07/warning-lichfield-ladies-elite-league-snub-will-damage-rugby-at-all-levels/).

But an independent Rugby Football Union (RFU) panel has now rejected the appeal from both clubs.

In a report after the hearing, a number of reasons were outlined as to why it Lichfield should not take up a place in the competition, including concerns over the cost of competing.

“There is some force in the RFU’s concern that, if Lichfield were to make the financial commitment required for this competition it would amount to them putting every last penny the club has into this commitment,” the report said.

“We can see that may well cause financial problems as the commitment continued year on year.”

Much of the criticism over the initial decision came due to [Lichfield’s record of providing players for international teams](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2017/03/03/england-international-emily-scarratt-absolutely-gutted-after-lichfield-ladies-are-left-out-of-elite-rugby-competition/).

The appeal heard that the club had questioned the weighting given to the ability of the squad in the scoring matrix used to decide which teams were given access to the new elite competition.

However, the RFU insisted the original panel had not ignored this point: “It is correct that Lichfield has a high number of elite players and an excellent playing record, but it seems to us that the panel’s conclusions relate to matters which are not entirely resolved by the current or historical existence of elite players within the club or their success.

“We do not think there is any evidence that the panel ignored Lichfield’s track record. The panel was, however, looking for more to provide the necessary step change. No doubt the current standard of playing personnel was taken into account, but the panel was obviously concerned about other aspects.”

The appeal found that while Lichfield’s score on the application had seen them finish higher than one club in the new ten-team league, the decision could not be made solely on that basis.

“Although they \[Lichfield\] were a team that met the minimum standards, it is clear that when the first nine teams had taken their places, there was a much greater call for a team from the North East and an appropriate decision was taken to try to fill the tenth place from that area with a team which also met the minimum standards,” the appeal report added.

“We are not persuaded in any way that the process has not been followed or that there has been any unfairness to Lichfield.”

The full appeal hearing report is available [online](http://www.englandrugby.com/mm/Document/Governance/Regulations/01/32/43/09/ThurrockRFCLichfieldRFCjudgmentApril2017%5FEnglish.pdf?spMailingID=1794384&spUserID=MzQ1MTY5MTMzMTMS1&spJobID=770859999&spReportId=NzcwODU5OTk5S0&ref=lichfieldlive.co.uk).