Lewes Women’s team wore “Equal FA Cup” t-shirts produced by Art of Football in the warm-up to their match against Manchester United.
Lewes earned £45,000 to reach the Quarter-final of the FA Cup, but male teams who reached the same stage earned £450,000.
Lewes, who are the only club in the world to pay their men’s and women’s teams equally, began the “Equal FA Cup” campaign in 2019, with an open letter to the FA.
Jack Towers, communications manager at Lewes FC said: “The United game was the perfect time to start talking about this campaign again. The women’s team told us they thought it would be more powerful if it was player-led.”
Collaborating with a brand like Art of Football was an important step for Lewes to get their message to a wider audience.
Kelvyn Quagraine, head of brand at Art of Football said: “We wanted to work with Lewes as they lead the crowd and create opportunities to grow the women’s game into a sport that everyone can access.”
Support from within the women’s game for the campaign has not been widespread. When Lewes launched the campaign in 2019, only one club tweeted in support of it.
Towers said: “Other clubs seem scared to show the same volume of support to these campaigns as we do. We left the t-shirts in the United dressing room before the match and no players took one.”
The t-shirts are on sale at Lewes games and are in demand across the country.
