Diagonal Pass

“Apart from the money we’ve got through Rovers’ brilliant efforts, we’ve got practically nothing coming into the club. It’s got to the point where we recently had a bucket collection at a Rovers match. Our players, some of them internationals, were begging in the rain to get cash for us to meet our bills.” — Jonathan James, Doncaster Belles chairperson

Doncaster Belles will stay afloat until January thanks to a fundraising match by the Doncaster Rovers, but still desperately need sponsors. Things look rather bleak for the Women’s Premier League’s oldest club — I hope they won’t end up going the way of Charlton Athletic, who managed to find new sponsors but too late to retain most of their best players.

Chelsea’s Danni Buet has been awarded the Women’s Premier League Player of the Month Award for September. Congratulations!

There’s more to look forward to this weekend apart from the W-League: Scotland will meet Russia in the first of a two-legged play-off to determine which side will progress to the Euro 2009 finals. Scotland has never made the play-offs before (they defeated Slovakia to make it this year) and, if successful, they’ll be in the finals for the first time.

A point of interest: England FA to take on homophobic abuse? One summit does not a concrete commitment make.