Crystal Palace’s ladies will face Charlton Athletic in the Fourth Round of the Women’s FA Cup after Reading who the Eaglets lost to in the third round have been disqualified from the tournament for fielding an ineligible player.
Reading FC Women were found to be in breach of rule 15(h). An administrative error was made in relation to the registration of a player in-conjunction with a postponement of the original fixture which was due to an unplayable pitch due to adverse weather. A FA rule requires that a player must be registered prior to the original fixture and not the re-arranged date of the game.
A hearing was requested by Reading, that was heard today on Thursday 19th February 2015 at Wembley Stadium. The appeal was considered and rejected by the committee when a decision was made to remove Reading FC Women from the competition and reinstate Crystal Palace Ladies FC, who will as a result face Charlton Athletic Ladies in the fourth round.
“As a club, we very much sympathise with Reading who played very well and deserved to win on the day. This will be very hard for them to take and we know that this would have been an honest mistake, something that we are all susceptible to,” a statement from Crystal Palace Ladies on TheEaglesBeak.com read.
“However, The FA have been clear on the rules and ensure that this rule is identified before every round of the competition, and whilst it is through the misfortune of others, we will now be working very hard in planning for the game at Charlton, a fixture that we know will be tough, but has the potential for incredible rewards.”
