NEVER FORGET, REVENUE IS THE REAL EQUALISER

Given the names around them, it is unlikely Lewes will win promotion to the Women’s Super League this season. After six Championship fixtures, they are already seven points behind Aston villa, who have a game in hand.

Yet as the club that proudly boasts of equal pay for its men’s and women’s teams — and, rather ludicrously, moralises that others should follow their lead — if they do ever go up, it will be interesting to see where that policy goes.

For the WSL requires professionalism and at least the minimum wage to be paid. So the men’s team, occupying 18th place in the isthmian Premier League table — not quite as good as Merstham, but above Brightlingsea Regent — would receive parity. And, potentially, considering the differing circumstances and revenue streams, that could be ruinous.

not quite to the extent of giving Aston villa’s women’s team parity with Jack Grealish, but financially testing nonetheless. Maybe the Lewes men’s team wouldn’t simply be disbanded as most women’s teams would if equal pay became the norm, but the circumstances would be problematic. As it stands, men and women at Lewes receive between £100 and £250 per match, because the budgets and revenues are similar.

Yet even if Lewes do not reach the WSL in the short term, the increasing popularity of the women’s team will one day make them bigger than a seventh-tier men’s team; in which case, they should be rewarded accordingly.

it will be interesting, then, if Lewes ever do make the step to the WSL, to see whether the club accepts that economic reality, not sexism, dictates the pay gap in elite football.

The reality is Lewes have a unique business model that allows its clubs to exist on equal terms. That is basic economics, not gender politics, as even the most strident moraliser may one day have to appreciate. ANOTHER suitor has pulled out of negotiations for Bury. Yet this doesn’t have to be the end. The club can still be resurrected by its supporters further down football’s pyramid. What has to be abandoned is the idea that Bury should be reborn within touching distance of football’s professional leagues. If the club needs to start lower and find its bearings, that is surely preferable to aiming higher and ceasing to exist at all.