No appetite for Capital Football to give Monaro Panthers second NPLW bite

She met with the governing body on Monday to express her disappointment at the call, which will cut off the pathway to the NPLW from not only Queanbeyan but the surrounding regions like the South Coast as well.

Capital Football also told McBain they would offer Monaro whatever support was required to get them back into the NPLW in the future - although no specifics about how or a time frame of when that might happen were provided.

But there's concern within the Panthers club that once they're gone they're gone for good.

They're scratching their head about how the NPLW door would re-open while they're playing in the state leagues.

Rival NPLW clubs have already started to circle their players and coaches after they were omitted from the eight teams to take part in the 2021 season.

Monaro will meet with Capital Football on Tuesday night as the club looks to explore their appeal options.

But it would appear from McBain's discussions there is no appeal process, with Capital Football refusing to reveal whether there was one when The Canberra Times contacted them last week.

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McBain asked the ACT body controlling soccer in the region what support and structures were in place to get the Panthers back to the NPLW level, but wasn't given any specifics.

The Labor federal member took to social media to encourage the Panthers to let Capital Football know what support they needed.

"Many have been disappointed at the news from Capital Football that the Monaro Panthers FC women's team has been cut from the National Premier League next year," McBain posted on Facebook.

"I was able to express those feelings [on Monday] to Capital Football [chairperson] Fran Sankey and CEO Phil Brown. Thank you to you both for hearing me out.

"As Fran told me, 'This is not a forever decision'. All agree that supporting the Panthers to get back to top-grade NPL in the future needs to be the focus.

"Fran and Phil will meet with the Panthers later this week and I encourage the club to make their needs known.

"Pathways for regional girls and boys to make the big time in any sport is important. I'll always be on that sideline cheering loudly."

Brown declined to comment about his meeting with McBain, preferring to wait until after he'd met with the Panthers before talking.

Capital Football did release a statement about its decision on Friday.

One of the reasons it listed for the new structure was it aligned the NPL with the NPLW.

While there were eight teams in each division in both the men's and women's leagues, the men's have two divisions - NPL1 and NPL2 - while the NPLW only has one.

It means there's no clear pathway back to the NPLW for Monaro once they're kicked out.

"Capital Football made the difficult decision regarding the declaration of leagues with the ongoing best interests of football in Canberra," the statement said.

"The Capital Football board is meeting with those affected clubs to provide feedback on their applications."