'why It's Time For Women's Fa Cup Prize Money To Be Same As Men's'

This play it is nan women's FA Cup 2nd information and everyone is hoping that pinch a adjacent upwind they whitethorn make it each nan measurement to Wembley - good we tin dream, can't we?

In 2017 Lewes Football Club, wherever I americium a director, became nan first - and still nan only - master aliases semi-professional nine successful nan state to assets its women's and men's teams equally.

Since then, and acknowledgment to nan Football Association's cardinal grants and commercialized gross shares, our women's squad has astatine times received a greater level of support - matching their higher convention position. In different words, moving from Equality FC to a position of equity.

Since 2019 we person besides been campaigning for adjacent FA Cup prize money for nan women's and men's competitions - not arsenic a slogan, but arsenic a strategy.

If nan FA Cup is truly, arsenic it claims to be, "the game's awesome leveller", past it is clip for nan finances to drawback up pinch nan fairytale.

For a men's club, a triumph successful nan 2nd information of nan FA Cup is worthy £79,500. For nan women it is conscionable £8,000 - a £71,500 difference.

In nan first information nan quality is £41,750, while successful nan 3rd information it is £86,500. Same game, aforesaid rules, aforesaid competition, aforesaid knockout format, aforesaid governing assemblage - but a different worth placed connected nan players.

Let's parkland nan accustomed excuses - "commercial reality", "revenue difference", "it's complicated".

No, it's not. The FA decides nan prize money for some competitions. It could easy make them adjacent tomorrow - it conscionable needs to want to do it.

It is simply excessively easy and lazy to disregard nan telephone for equality, arsenic immoderate group do, by pointing to crowd sizes and broadcast revenues. Yes, attendances for men's matches are higher, and yes, nan men's TV authorities are presently worthy more.

But nan FA does not return a stock of gross receipts, truthful that is an irrelevant statement erstwhile discussing adjacent prize money. And because nan FA is publically committed to redistribution, location is yet nary valid justification for maintaining unequal prize funds.

The FA has, successful nan past, chosen to disregard our requests for explanations and engagement but, positively, has precocious begun to beryllium much receptive.

The irony is that nan FA does cognize really to 'do equality'. Since 2020, it has paid nan women's and men's England teams the aforesaid lucifer fees and bonuses. That rule - adjacent salary for adjacent capacity - is already argumentation astatine St George's Park.

The FA's ain 'Reaching Higher: Women's & Girls' Game Strategy 2024-28' besides pledges to "deliver adjacent opportunities" and "build robust, high-quality title structures".

So, nan mobility is not whether nan FA believes successful equality. It is why that belief stops pinch nan FA Cup.

The full prize cookware for nan men's title this play is £23.5m, while for nan women's it is £6.14m. Is nan FA, essentially, telling girls and women they are not worthy arsenic overmuch arsenic their antheral counterparts?

The Lewes FC run is not only astir equality betwixt nan women's and men's competitions, it besides asks for a much equitable divided wrong nan men's competition.

Right now, nan lion's stock of nan £23.5m men's prize money will travel to able Premier League clubs who arguably request it slightest and wherever it will make very small difference. A rebalanced building would stock nan rewards much evenly crossed nan pyramid - helping mini clubs past and thrive, not conscionable purpose to capable nan highlights reel erstwhile a year.

The finances of shot are, arsenic I now cognize only excessively well, incredibly and progressively perilous and yet present is simply a elemental measurement of ensuring that prize money is dispersed further and much fairly. You tin find our afloat connection here: equalfacup.com., external

Meanwhile, nan women's prize cookware is truthful thinly dispersed crossed hundreds of clubs that galore of them will suffer money successful earlier rounds. Between travel, staffing, aesculapian screen and transportation costs, information often costs much than a triumph will earn.

This twelvemonth we person written to each nine successful nan women's title asking for their support and to see taking immoderate elemental actions - a squad photograph earlier kick-off pinch nan players making an 'equal' motion pinch their arms, and a 21-second region aft kick-off marking 1921, nan twelvemonth the FA banned women's football.

The prohibition lasted 50 years and robbed women's shot of decades of development, finance and, critically, nan building of nan taste superior that is truthful basal to nan occurrence of nan men's crippled - nan embedding of shot into nan cloth of our lives.

This is not a protestation against shot - it is simply a reminder of what shot stands for. The FA Cup was built connected nan thought that anyone could triumph - that teams from mini towns matter arsenic overmuch arsenic nan ones who play astatine Wembley.

The FA wants nan women's crippled to guidelines connected its ain 2 feet and truthful offering adjacent FA Cup prize money is simply a single, simple, transformative step. Equal prize money is not kindness - it is reward for performance.

It is shot doing what it does champion - celebrating those who gain it, nary matter who they are.