[Football] Lewes FC.

[Marshy]

I am looking forward to a night at the Dripping Pan Watching Burgess HIll this season so i hope this get sorted soon.

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Yes, no mention that when the BBC spoke to 31 non league clubs recently, 29 reported they were in financial difficulties.

There was an idea of removing some of/all of the evening fixtures in the winter due to the cost of floodlights.

Seems like a sensible idea if they can get the fixtures in elsewhere

 

[Hamilton]

I think one of the problems is the current model where women's teams are linked with men's. There will always be men who will resent any money being spent on the women's team as they feel it's to the detriment of the men's team. Leaving aside any notion of equality one could argue that the Lewes women's team has as much chance of competing in the second tier of English football as the men's team would in the Championship, and therefore they should cut their cloth accordingly.

Maybe the London City Lionesses is an example of how women's football can move forward? Afaik they used to be the Millwall Lionesses, until they split (not sure if it was voluntary or not), and have been successful enough away from a male parent club to get themselves into the WSL for next season

I'm not saying that could work for all clubs, if the Brighton women's team split they would lose the branding, the ready-made support and of course the cash. They would undoubtedly have to play at much lower level, but maybe that could be a future for the women's game? Let clubs develop organically on their own, completely independent and unbeholden to any existing men's team.

I dunno. That probably won't happen given the amount of effort and investment that's gone into the likes of Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea. The bottom line is the vast majority of football clubs, even some PL ones, struggle for cash and it doesn't matter what structure you've got, what gender you are or what level you're at, there will always be funding issues.

Great post.

We’ve allowed the women’s game to develop along the same economic model as the men’s, hence male teams basically own the women’s game.

But, given that this is where all the infrastructure, grounds, facilities etc sit, it’s understandable that this has been allowed to happen. Big brands (Liverpool, Man City etc) will want to grow their brand in every way they can which is why they’ve bought the game up.

Perhaps had the Lewes rule been applied (along with central funding from the FA) to all women’s teams (and had clubs been forced to operate as two separate companies) then maybe the game would grow differently. I can’t see Arsenal signing up to equal playing budgets.

The England national team Carrie’s enough weight to grow their brand women’s brand right now. That’s where the FA should have put its effort, and then they should have allowed independent women’s teams (albeit connected by brand) to emerge. I doubt women’s FFP rules are fit for purpose right now, but I don’t know enough about them and haven’t done the research.

 

[dazzer6666]

I think one of the problems is the current model where women's teams are linked with men's. There will always be men who will resent any money being spent on the women's team as they feel it's to the detriment of the men's team. Leaving aside any notion of equality one could argue that the Lewes women's team has as much chance of competing in the second tier of English football as the men's team would in the Championship, and therefore they should cut their cloth accordingly.

Maybe the London City Lionesses is an example of how women's football can move forward? Afaik they used to be the Millwall Lionesses, until they split (not sure if it was voluntary or not), and have been successful enough away from a male parent club to get themselves into the WSL for next season

I'm not saying that could work for all clubs, if the Brighton women's team split they would lose the branding, the ready-made support and of course the cash. They would undoubtedly have to play at much lower level, but maybe that could be a future for the women's game? Let clubs develop organically on their own, completely independent and unbeholden to any existing men's team.

I dunno. That probably won't happen given the amount of effort and investment that's gone into the likes of Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea. The bottom line is the vast majority of football clubs, even some PL ones, struggle for cash and it doesn't matter what structure you've got, what gender you are or what level you're at, there will always be funding issues.

Nailed it. London City have an absolutely minted owner who has already invested heavily in women’s football in the US.

The aspiring Lewes ‘equality’ model was always flawed imo.