Lewes have today announced two proposals for the fair distribution of prize money across the Emirates FA Cup and Vitality Women’s FA Cup competitions which could potentially help safeguard clubs across the footballing pyramid for the next 150 years.
The Sussex club are pioneers in equality and campaigning for positive change both in the men’s and women’s games and they are again leading the way in the fight to bring improvement to the game, this time fair distribution of FA Cup prize money.
The Football Association yesterday announced an increase to the Vitality Women’s FA Cup prize money pot of £3 million per year from the 2022/2023 season, a move which pleased Lewes FC. Off the back of that announcement, Lewes have unveiled two proposals for fair distribution of FA Cup prize money across the men’s and women’s competitions. The proposals come off the back of discussions with supporters across the country and take into account the following four guiding principles:
• Equality (or indeed equity) between men’s and women’s teams in the FA Cup
• Distributing prize funds to where they are most needed
• Creating a transparent and public mechanism for how prize funds are allocated
• No additional spend required from The FA.
Proposal One – Prize Per Fixture
This takes the total current prize fund (men and women) and allocates an equal base amount to every fixture played, across every round of the competitions. Two weighting variables have then been added. The first weights the prize money differently according to the cup rounds, as is traditional. The further a team goes in the competition, the more the prize money increases. The second is a simple, but transparent 75-25 split between what the winner and loser receive.
This means that, from now on, no matter how many teams enter the respective men’s and women’s competitions, the ‘prize per fixture’ figure will always remain equal. But because, currently, some 729 men’s teams enter and 417 women’s teams, more money in total goes into the men’s FA Cup.
Proposal Two – 50/50
Proposal two takes the total FA Cup prize fund and splits it equally between men’s football and women’s football. Fewer women’s teams entering (for now) means that those teams receive more prize money than their male counterparts.
This promotes the idea of equity, rather than equality, acknowledging and addressing that women’s football requires additional investment to help to redress the catastrophic damage of the 50-year ban and subsequent years of little or no investment. The current prize pot totals just 2% of the men’s prize pot but there are a growing number of teams taking part, up from 300 to 417 participating teams this season. This proposal would help accelerate growth and move away from dependency on benefactors, be that a ‘the men’s club’ or indeed FA grants.
Lewes believe that both proposals would see 95% of the teams participating in the Emirates FA Cup and Vitality Women’s FA Cup better off. Both proposals would provide a financial lifeline to so many clubs down the pyramid who would then have additional funds for growth and development.
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