Reading FC Women have been removed from the FA Cup after fielding two ineligible players in their 3-0 third round win over Crystal Palace Ladies. Palace have since been reinstated in the competition, and so will be the team to face Charlton in the next round on 8th March. The club attended a hearing at Wembley Stadium today where they set out to explain the reasons behind the error. After the hearing General Manager Jon Horton explained the outcome, "The FA listened but then they came back and said the only action they could take is to remove us from the competition."
Each player must be registered eight days before in order to play in an FA Cup match. The match against Crystal Palace was originally scheduled for 1st February, but had to be postponed until 8th February due to an unplayable pitch. The problem arose because the players, who haven't been named, were registered in time for the rearranged match but not for the original date, and therefore under FA rules were ineligible to play.
This is the second time in less than a year that Reading have been expelled from a cup competition. Last season, they were removed from the Continental Cup (the League Cup) after playing an ineligible player in the 8-1 win over fellow WSL 2 side London Bees. Horton continued, “We have one person having to manage a lot of teams in different leagues at different age groups, all governed by different rules. It’s very difficult when your dealing with different rules across several competitions. We will try our hardest to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again in the future.”