Lewes FC have been accused of being ‘woke’ by Telegraph writer Ben Rumsby after a plea to fans for £120,000 to escape going bust.
The only football club paying men and women equally since 2017, is facing financial difficulties after their women’s team was relegated from the Women’s Championship.
The club, labeled ‘woke’ for its equal pay stance, issued an urgent plea for donations to secure its future.
Former board member Barry Collins resigned, criticising the club’s focus on its equality campaign over financial sustainability, though he supports equality in principle.
Lewes claims to have transformed its budget and management, stating this will be their final request for financial support.
They highlighted the need for change in women’s football due to clubs defaulting and the competitive nature of non-league men’s football.
Dear Owners, Supporters and Volunteers
We are writing to you – our Lewes FC community and our football family – with a direct message for financial help. It costs us roughly £120,000 to keep the club running through the off-season.
These costs help us upkeep the Dripping Pan, pay our utility bills, maintain the pitch and develop hospitality so the chips are ready, the beers are quick, and we’re match fit to enjoy the football.
This is the moment we humbly need your financial help to propel the club forward on and off the pitch.
What we do together in the next few weeks will shape the future of Lewes FC for next season and beyond.
As a small, community-owned club, we have to be honest about the challenges we face – especially during the summer off-season, when there are no matchdays to generate income but plenty of work to be done.
>> Help us today, fuel us tomorrow <<
We Need You Now!
We rebuilt last season. We reset. We delivered unforgettable moments on and off the pitch. Now, to keep that momentum going – to keep our teams thriving, to keep the Pan buzzing, to keep our values alive – we’re asking you to stand with us and raise the money we need to prepare for 2025/26 and beyond.
Whether you’ve come to the Pan once and fell in love, or made our home your second home – please support us financially today to help us bridge this crucial summer gap and power the next chapter in the Lewes FC story.
Challenges we face
At the start of last season, we faced a number of financial challenges following relegation. Cash was tight and we had new teams to build. Since then, we’ve managed to transform our operating budget and our entire management processes to deliver a better-than-break-even season, even generating a small cash surplus. We’re incredibly proud of this work and it sets us up brilliantly for the 2025/26 season.
We got to the end of this season – just – and we even won a trophy. But now we need your financial help so we, as a community, can move forward and keep evolving for the better.
Why now?
As with many football clubs in the summer, we have no income between now and the start of the 2025/26 season. However, we have significant costs in preparation for the season. Summer is when we develop players, build squads, prepare our hospitality, and get ready for a new campaign.
If we can confidently get through the summer, then we can operate to a break-even budget (as we did in 2024/25) and have our new governance proposals in place for owners to vote on.
We want to evolve and engage more with our community. We hope that this will be the last time we will need to ask for donations like this — not because we won’t need support in future, but because we’re committed to building more sustainable income streams from across our community.
>> Help us today <<
Elevate Your Ownership: Buy a discounted Lifetime Ownership – for two weeks only
If you are an owner paying an annual subscription, now is the time to become a lifetime owner. Rather than paying full price, you can ‘top up’ your Ownership or Ownership Plus at a discounted rate.
Elevate your ownership at a discounted rate for two weeks only and help the club in our time of need.
If you are a current £50 Owner, you can buy a lifetime ownership for £850 (normally £1,000).
If you are a current £100 Owner-Plus, you can buy a lifetime ownership for £750 (normally £1,000).
Or, own Lewes FC for the first time today and become a new lifetime Owner for £1,000
Buy today and get:
Beanie: Lewes Green or WGAC Plush Purple
Shirt: Choose a 2025/26 home or away shirt for next season
Match Tickets: Secure discounted and free match tickets for selected games
Beach Hut: First 20 lifetime owners get a beach hut for a game of their choice in 2025/26 (subject to availability)
If you can’t or don’t want to elevate, that’s absolutely fine. We ask that owners check their subscription is up to date and consider an additional standing donation that fits within your budget.
Help your club now: Become an owner
If you’re not an owner of Lewes FC then this is your chance to make a difference. Our club only survives on the strength of its community. Our numbers, our voice, and our financial impact.
Become an owner and unlock new benefits – we are working over the summer to improve our ownership benefits.
If you’re already an owner, why not gift an ownership to friends and family? All new Ownership Plus (£100) members get a gift box and beanie hat!
Help your club now: Donate if you can
If you can spare the money, please donate to the football club. We have around 2500+ owners, of whom 600 live locally. If everyone donated £50-£250 we would generate enough funds to prepare the Pan for next season, flatten cash flow fluctuations, and secure all the hard work that our staff, fans, and directors achieved this year.
You can donate via TicketTailor and help us write the next chapter of Lewes FC together.
Even a weekly donation of £20 over the next few weeks could make a huge difference to our club as we prepare for the new campaign.
Or you can sponsor a game, a player, a matchball, a beach hut. We’re revamping our sponsorship packages for the new season and want to support businesses and individuals in Lewes as much as ourselves!
Help your club now: Sponsor us
Upwards of 2,000 people from Lewes, Sussex and the South East make the trip to the Dripping Pan each week during the football season.
We stream live matches, publish game highlights, invite social media influencers to games, and get national press coverage that similar clubs could only dream of.
You can get your business in front of our owners, supporters and away fans (your potential customers) throughout the year with one of our sponsorship packages.
We are #FansOfChange and we want to work with #BrandsOfChange.
If your company wants to help us write history, become a sponsor/partner, and actively change football for the better, email commercial@lewesfc.com or see our sponsorship packages.
Help your club now: Merchandise
We understand some fans aren’t able to donate money or elevate their ownerships. If this is the case, we appeal to supporters to buy our merchandise and use your spending power to support the club.
If you’re local and can pop into our club shop at the Pan, we have:
• Water bottles• Reusable coffee cups• Caps• T-shirts• Scarves• Beanies• Shirts• Baby gifts• Lewes FC soap from English Soap Company (a great gift idea!)
The recent club elections means we now have fresh ideas and a new drive on the board, with a commitment to future proofing our club, expanding our community offering, and allowing Lewes FC to flourish. But we need financial help to get there.
Can you help us?
>> Help us today <<
Twitter users reacted after Lewes FC were accused of being ‘woke’ by the Telegraph over making a plea to fans for £120,000 to escape going bust…
@richopenshaw: You used to be a respected newspaper.
@KiersTheivam: Incredible that paying women equally has been described as ‘woke.’ 🤦♂️
@mentalhealthga2: State of this… @LewesFCWomen and @LewesFCMen are a class act of a club. The Telegraph is another shitrag that tries to appeal to the worst of the worst
@CharSey94: It’s not woke to pay women to do the same job that men do, hope that helps xxx
@GirlsontheBall: So equal pay is woke now?! Is having a well-supported women’s football team also woke? (how I hate that word!) There is no doubt Lewes are in a bit of financial difficulty at the moment but the whole tone of this piece and the blame ascribed to the women’s team is absolutely infuriating 😡
@KLV_Ball: Definition of woke: Giving your players a salary. Bunch of clowns you are @TeleFootball 🤡
@SCFCJosh96: Lewes weren’t being ‘woke’ by paying them the say they were basically paying the going rate for both their men’s (7th tier) & women’s (2nd-3rd tier) teams.
@stattorino: Excuse my French but what the fuck is this headline. Paying the players in your women’s team isn’t “woke”
@TDesborough: I know the word “woke” lost all meaning long ago. But… Using it to define giving women equal pay is insane.
