One point. That is how close Forest Green Rovers Women came to promotion to the fourth tier of the women's pyramid last season. They finished second in the South West Regional Women's Premier Division — just a single point behind the division winners. Within weeks of that final whistle, the club announced the team would not exist next season at all.

The decision, confirmed by Forest Green's ownership, is framed as a financial one. The club were relegated from the National League in 2024, dropping out of the English Football League for the first time in years, and the board says it needs to "concentrate resources" on getting the men's side back up. Women's football, at least for now, loses out.

Former captain Hattie Jones, who joined the club in 2021 and was made skipper two years later, says the players found out as a shock. Speaking to BBC Radio Gloucestershire, she was measured but clear about what the closure signals beyond the balance sheet.

"It sends [the message] is women's and girls' football valued?" Jones said. "The Lionesses have had a massive influence on that. Forest Green over the last few years have done a lot to get the women's team to where we are and so connected to the men's team. But if you think about how this is then going to impact many, many young girls that are playing, I think the message is we're not valued, 'we don't really care, we do it because we have to'."

That last phrase cuts through. Women's teams at lower-league men's clubs have often existed at the margins — tolerated during boom periods, expendable when budgets tighten. Forest Green had invested enough that the women's side was genuinely progressing. Losing promotion on goal difference or points difference in any other context would be a cause for renewed ambition, not a footnote before dissolution.

The closure also ends the club's partnership with Hartpury University's elite girls' training centre, which catered for players aged nine to 16. That element arguably carries the longer-term damage — junior pathways, once dismantled, take years to rebuild, and the girls currently in those programmes now face disruption at a formative stage of their development.

Jones acknowledged the business reality. "It's difficult because we all can understand that football is a business, difficult decisions around finances do have to be made," she said. "Sadly in this instance it's come at our expense." She had already decided, before the closure was announced, that the 2025-26 campaign would be her last at the club regardless.

There is a faint note of optimism in what she reports happening since the news broke. Other local clubs have reached out on social media offering opportunities to players and coaches, which Jones says reflects how tight-knit the women's football community is in the region. Some squad members are apparently exploring whether they can continue to play together in some form.

Forest Green have said they hope to be in a position to fund the women's team again in the future. The market, however, will note that promotion back to the EFL — itself not guaranteed — would need to be followed by sustained financial recovery before any reinstatement becomes realistic. For the players and the young girls in the development programme, that timeline feels very abstract right now.

What happens next

The club have not put a timeframe on any potential return. For now, the squad disperses, the Hartpury partnership ends, and a team that came within one point of promotion ceases to exist. The question Jones raises — whether women's football is genuinely valued or simply tolerated when it is convenient — remains unanswered, and it is not unique to one Gloucestershire club.

Frequently asked

Why has Forest Green Rovers closed their women's team?
The club cited the need to concentrate financial resources on returning the men's side to the English Football League following their relegation to the National League in 2024. The women's team will not compete in the 2026-27 season.
How well did Forest Green Rovers Women do last season?
They finished second in the South West Regional Women's Premier Division, missing promotion to the fourth tier by just one point — making the timing of the closure particularly hard for players and supporters to accept.
Will Forest Green Rovers Women ever come back?
The club has said it hopes to fund the women's team again in the future, but no timeframe has been given. The closure also ends their development partnership with Hartpury University for girls aged nine to 16.