English football club Lewes FC commits to pay male, female players equally

Image: Facebook/@LewesFC

Lewes FC, a semi-professional football club based in England, announced that it would pay both its men’s and women’s teams equally.

The East Sussex club hopes to bridge the disparity that women face in sports by providing the same budget, equipment and facilities to both sides.

The club launched a campaign, Equality FC, with a video stating, “How do you tell your daughter that even if she shows the same skills, the same commitment, trains just as hard and cares just as much, she’s always going to be valued less than her little brother?”

According to The Guardian, the club’s director Jacquie Agnew said, “By committing to paying our women’s and men’s teams equally, and providing equal resource for coaching, training and facilities, we hope to spark a change across the U.K. that will help put an end to the excuses for why such a deep pay disparity has persisted in our sport.”

“Together with our owners, donors and sponsors, Lewes FC can show that equal pay can be implemented to the benefit of both women and men in sport and beyond,” she said in the report.

Women’s first-team manager John Donoghue said, “This sends a powerful signal to not only our players and our club, but to the whole U.K. football community that women’s football deserves an equal voice and support to men’s.”

Lewes FC’s women’s team plays in the third level of the Football Association, the Premier League Southern Division.

In the men’s English football league, the men’s team plays in the eighth level, the Isthmian League Division One South. Niña V. Guno/JB

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