AFC Sudbury team up with Lewes to join the fight for gender equal prize money between the FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup

Their record-breaking run in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup may be over but AFC Sudbury Women’s quest to support the fight for equal FA prize money between the men’s and women’s variants has just begun.

Their second round proper tie on Sunday took them down to Lewes in east Sussex, to the home of what is claimed to be the world’s first gender equal club. It is also a fan-owned club which began campaigning for parity in prize money to the FA across gender competitions six years ago.

Their research shows a 77 per cent to 23 per cent split currently exists this season from the total £26 million prize fund allocated by the FA – £20m to the men’s FA Cup and just £6m to the women’s.

The FA has pointed out that it doubled the women’s prize fund heading into the current season and wants to work towards eventually providing equal prize money.

Lewes, and now AFC Sudbury among the official supporting clubs joining their crusade, say on their campaign web page: “On the one hand, there is some progress, but, on the other… only EQUAL prize money will be enough.”

Sunday’s match at the Dripping Pan – which AFC Sudbury lost 3-0 against a club who were two levels higher in the Championship last season ahead of relegation to Tier 3 – saw them agree to kick off with a 21-second delay in protest. It was a result of the winner of the tie standing to get £8,000 compared to a men’s team at the same stage this season picking up £75,000.

The social media posts around it had the tag line ‘it costs the same to play the game’ along with ‘keep the magic. Just make it equal’.

‘Parity’ and ‘Prize’ placards were also held up in the stands and by AFC Sudbury’s players ahead of kick-off.

Adrian Goodwin, who was formerly with Capel Plough’s then ahead-of-the-curve female section, was head hunted by AFC Sudbury Academy director Danny Laws ahead of his appointment as the club’s first director of women’s and girls’ football in February 2019.

Having made big strides with the club’s female provision since, Goodwin said of the FA Cup prize inequality: “It is a major debate that needs to be had and it needs to be had on a sensible level and not on a debate that ‘you are a woman etc’.”

His daughter Maisie Goodwin played in the game on Sunday and he feels, from his own experiences across Suffolk with her, that until clubs at grassroots levels begin to receive more money that is already circulating through the game, girls and women’s football will not continue to progress as quickly as it could and should. He feels this means that Suffolk girls, as well as others around the country, are not getting the opportunities they deserve to develop and benefit, via the professional game, from their talents on a football pitch.

He said his club can only currently afford to provide them with a coach for longer trips, above 90 miles, and “it is the best part of £1,000 and that is a lot of money, especially when our gates (crowds) averages around 100.

“So to have that money from the FA Cup going from the first round right the way up is just a massive thing.”

If the side were playing in the men’s competition and lost in the second round proper, they would have picked up £20,000 for reaching that stage. As it was, they will receive £2,000 - half of which is lost to the travel costs.

Gate receipts are also split equally between clubs in the men’s competition, but this does not happen in the women’s variant until the third round proper, something Goodwin also feels is wrong and penalises smaller clubs who will rarely get that far.

On being contacted by the Suffolk Free Press and SuffolkNews, the FA directed us to a press release put out a year ago, which showed they doubled the prize fund for the current season.

It contained a quote from Baroness Sue Campbell, the FA’s director of women’s football, which said: “Doubling the prize money showcases the FA’s clear commitment to the future of the Women’s FA Cup and will help us maintain its stature as the most prestigious domestic women’s cup competition in the world.

“That’s why we’re delighted to be making a second successive increase to the prize fund, ensuring that as clubs progress through the competition they receive financial rewards that will empower them to invest in their own futures.

“Ultimately, we want the women’s competition to receive the same prize money as the men’s, and this new increase is a positive step in the direction of achieving that long-term ambition.”

From information provided to the Free Press, it appears the money from broadcast deals to secure the contracts to cover the men’s and women’s games do feed into the FA prize funds. The gender breakdown of those deals is not publicly known.

‘Would I give my son more for doing the same chore? No’

Goodwin said the analogy he uses to explains the painful inequality in football and sport in general across genders is through parenting and pocket money.

“I have got a boy and a girl,” he said. “Would I give my son more pocket money for doing the same chore as my daughter did? The answer to that is no.

“So why do they think it’s okay to do that in sport?”

Sunday’s tie at The Dripping Pan saw AFC fall behind within two minutes to Lois Roche’s volley before conceding again, to Olivia Carpenter, before the break to give the Suffolk lower-level side an uphill battle in the second period.

There was an unexpected further break shortly after the hour mark, with Lewes having been awarded a penalty, due to a serious injury to a home player which resulted in everyone else leaving the pitch as an ambulance was waited for.

Approximately an hour later, play resumed and Lewes saw the penalty saved by AFC keeper Millie Carter.

Moments later though, she was picking the ball out of the net after the conditions caused by Storm Bert played their part in gifting Lewes a telling third goal.

Carpenter’s header got caught in the wind and looped over Carter before Muna Eze provided the simple tap-in from close range.

It ended a record-breaking journey for Luke and Stefan Mallett’s side having never got past the first round proper as a club until this season.

Lewes released a statement after the match concerning the way both teams and their supporters handled the situation that unfolded with the injury to their player, Sammy Quayle, who was taken to A&E in an ambulance to receive further treatment.

Player Amber Cantwell was also given a special mention for her help alongside the club’s medical teams.

After a break from action this weekend, AFC will turn their attention back to the FA Women’s National League Division One South East where they lie fourth in the table. Their next opponents will be third-placed Chatham Town on Sunday, December 8 (2pm). The gap between the two is only two points.