Club news
Just over a week ago, Lewes FC wrote to the FA Board about the huge disparity in prize money between the men’s and women’s FA Cup. We published the letter on this website. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s here.
It’s fair to say we seem to have touched a nerve.
At a reception, hosted by Women In Football, in the Houses of Parliament the following evening, we had many conversations with MPs about the letter. They were understandably shocked at the huge differences in the prize fund for the Women’s FA Cup compared to the men’s. We were then delighted to hear Vicky Foxcroft MP ask a question at PMQs this week and to get a supportive response from the Prime Minister.
So what happens next?
Well, we are forming a small Working Group of people inside women’s football in order to draft a proposal for what we have called a ‘radical increase‘ in the women’s prize fund. To be clear, we do want the aim to be equalisation, but that’s not our starting point, despite some inaccurate reports. The Working Group will come up with a framework for not just how much more money should be injected from next season, but also how it should be done. This is to make sure that the benefit of greater prize money can have an effect throughout the women’s game.
We are now inviting submissions to the Working Group on how you feel the increase in prize money should be introduced and how its benefits could create the maximum impact in the game. Please send your submissions to info@lewesfc.com using the subject ‘FA Cup Prize Gap‘.
Thanks.
We’ll keep everyone informed of progress as things move on.
#FACupPrizeGap