Lewes Women's players call for equal prize money to men's teams in FA Cup ahead of Manchester United quarter-final

The Rooks have publicly released a letter sent to Karen Carney, chair of the Future of Women’s Football Review, calling for her to recommend the equalisation of the FA Cup prize fund.

The letter, sent to Carney yesterday, outlined how the club, having reached the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time ever, were ‘no strangers to making history’ based on assigning equal playing budgets to its men’s and women’s teams since 2017.

Drawing inspiration from the Lionesses’ Women’s Euros triumph last summer, players said they ‘have decided to use our progress in this competition as a platform for positive change’, acknowledging Carney’s ‘power to positively change women’s football for our generation and the next’.

Lewes will earn £25,000 if they beat Women’s Super League outfit Manchester United on Sunday, a fraction of the £450,000 they would earn if they were male.

The Rooks have been calling for equal FA Cup prize money since 2019, and welcomed the increase to prize money this season.

However, the men’s prize fund was increased by more than the total amount allotted to the women’s FA Cup, thus increasing, rather than decreasing, the prize gap.

Additional funds would ‘allow clubs to invest more funds in player wages, facilities, equipment, medical care, staffing, travel costs, and everything the women’s football pyramid needs to thrive, and grow. It will mean the players that follow us can focus solely on football’.

Lewes has outlined an #EqualFACup proposal which, without an increase in funding, would dramatically improve allocation to women’s teams, as well as to smaller men’s teams seeing 95 per cent of the country’s clubs better off.

The complete text of the players’ letter can be found here.

The players would invite anyone who would like to add their name to their letter to sign up and pledge your support. You can add your name to the letter here.