This Sunday’s women’s match at The Dripping Pan is a relegation battle for Lewes FC Women, and, speaking personally, sitting through it will be a major ordeal.
Some people seem to find football fun, and if you fall into that category, well, please come and join us with your weird ways. If, however, like me, it now means far too much to be enjoyable, come and support - me and everyone who works or volunteers for Lewes FC, as well as - the women on the pitch!
Women’s football has developed dramatically over the last couple of years, thanks in part to Lewes Football Club’s campaigning for equality, as well as the Lionesses’ massive success on the world’s stage. This means that other clubs have woken up to the commercial potential of their women’s sides, and the big names are pushing funds over the table from their men’s teams to build their women’s. They’re also (finally) beginning to share resources, like pitches, canteens, sponsors, marketing, medical care and coaching expertise. Honestly, if it wasn’t also great, it would be totally maddening. You want them to share with the women, yes, but Lewes would have liked to have made it to the Super League, or at least be firmly established in the top half of our Championship table before the sniff of new markets and revenues forced the Premier League clubs to stop being so sexist. If that makes sense.
But here we are. Fighting to keep the hard-earned platform for our messages of gender equity. Fighting for survival in the Championship, which is fast, and predictably perhaps, becoming a replica of the names you see in the top flights of the men’s game. Fighting for women’s football not to follow the trajectory of the men’s game, not to lose its own values, its own culture, not to become a spare rib.
We never wanted it to be this way. Lewes FC wanted to stay an independent voice in elite, professional women’s football. We wanted people to continue asking, ‘how on earth have ‘Little Lewes’ done that?’ And then answer the question themselves by saying, ‘Oh yeah, by valuing and resourcing their women fairly!’
We made history by bucking a sexist trend; we are still the only pro or semi-pro club to resource our women the same as our men. But it may not be enough.
So, join us for the thrills on Sunday, as we welcome Crystal Palace to the Pan for the last, and most nail-biting, home game of the season. Will we keep our place in the Championship?
Win or lose, there will be a party afterwards, and an awful lot of hugging.
And, as always, become an owner of our fantastic independent club - help us keep our influence: https://lnkd.in/dqMKG9Th
#EqualityFC #FansOfChange
Portfolio Engineering @ SWIB
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