FOR SEVERAL SEASONS, THE CLUB HAS BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE FIGHT FOR EQUAL PRIZE MONEY FOR MEN’S AND WOMEN’S COMPETITIONS ~ from Dialectik Football ~ The Football Association has frozen prize money for the 2025/26 Women’s FA Cup while increasing the total prize money for the men’s competition. This represents a setback for the small steps taken in recent seasons towards equal prize money. Why has the Football Association (FA) chosen to exacerbate the inequalities in its flagship competition? Lewes FC took advantage of the Women’s FA Cup third round to raise this issue again and request a meeting with the FA’s Professional Game Board (PGB) to get an explanation for this reversal. Ahead of their match against Crystal Palace at the Dripping Pan on 14 December, the East Sussex club called on its supporters to use the game as a platform to protest once more against the freeze on prize money for the Women’s Cup. Rooks fans symbolically displayed banners bearing the equals sign in the stands. “Equality is not a cost, it’s a commitment to the future of football,” proclaims the campaign slogan. This demand is not new for Lewes, who launched the “Equal FA Cup” campaign in 2019. Since then, while the FA has indeed doubled the prize money for women’s competitions, the gap with that of men remains enormous. THE FIGURES AND THE STARK REALITY To give an idea, the winning teams in the third round of the Women’s FA Cup received £35,000 in prize money, while the runners-up received only £9,000. Meanwhile, at the same stage of the competition, men’s teams will receive £121,500 for the winners and £26,500 for the eliminated team. The freeze on the overall prize money for the women’s FA Cup (144,000 pounds was added to cover a new preliminary round) is all the more unfair given that the men’s prize money has increased by 1.5 million pounds compared to the 2024/25 season. The freeze also applies to prize money paid during the preliminary rounds of the men’s FA Cup, impacting dozens of amateur clubs already burdened by the overall increase in costs. Adding insult to injury, the winner of the men’s edition will receive 2.12 million pounds next May, 120,000 pounds more than last season. Considering the revenues of the Premier League clubs to whom the trophy is promised, this increase feels like an insult to the teams in the earlier rounds who could have shared it. “Today, the lion’s share of the £23.5 million prize money for men’s football will go to wealthy Premier League clubs who arguably need it the least and for whom this money will make very little difference,” laments Ben Hall, director of Lewes FC, in an opinion piece published on the BBC website. “Same sport, same rules, same competition, same knockout format, same governing body, but a different value placed on the women’s and men’s players.” In the early rounds, the prize money is so paltry that many women’s teams lose money. The costs incurred by travel, medical coverage, and pitch rentals often exceed the prize money earned from a victory at this stage of the competition. INEQUALITY AT EVERY LEVEL Ironically, the FA knows how to be egalitarian when it comes to national teams, its crown jewels. Since 2020, the FA has been paying women the same match fees and bonuses as men. “The question, therefore, isn’t whether the FA believes in equality, but rather why this conviction stops at the FA Cup,” Hall continues. The governing bodies have no shortage of excuses, citing commercial realities and differences in television revenue. For Ben Hall, it’s primarily a matter of political choice: “The FA decides the prize money for both competitions. They could make them equal tomorrow; they simply would have to.” For many, this situation is merely the result of the setback women’s football has suffered due to its 50-year ban by the English Football Association, perpetuating a view of football primarily as a male preserve. Under the guise of profitability, the FA is simply perpetuating this history of male dominance. A CALL TO OTHER CLUBS This is why Lewes FC wrote to all the teams participating in the Women’s FA Cup, inviting them to carry out protest actions such as a team photo before kickoff, with the players forming an “=” sign with their arms, and a 21-second pause after kickoff, referencing 1921, the year the FA banned women’s football. Lewes FC and Corsham Town did this during the first round. With its “Equality FC” campaign launched in 2017, Lewes has already become the first club – in the English professional and semi-professional landscape – to allocate equal resources to its women’s and men’s teams. It has made this fight for equal treatment in football a central element of its DNA as a “community-based” club. While it is still struggling to bring many other clubs on board, the club is not giving up. However, it is not entirely alone. A few seasons ago, Clapton CFC and Stourbridge FC Ladies also took up the cause. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Machine translation The post Lewes FC, a club in pursuit of equality appeared first on Freedom News.

PALESTINE SOLIDARITY GESTURES HAVE MULTIPLIED IN FOOTBALL—OFTEN REFERRING TO HANDALA, AN ICONIC CARTOON CHARACTER AND SYMBOL OF HOPE ~ Yann Dey-Helle, Dialectik Football ~ At MetLife Stadium in suburban New York, Wessam Abou Ali recently celebrated his second goal against FC Porto by posing with one hand behind his back and the other making the victory sign. A nod to Handala, a character created in 1969 by cartoonist Naji al-Ali, who first appeared in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Seyassah. Handala is inspired by Naji al-Ali’s own experience, forced to leave his home in the village of Al-Sharaja in Palestine in 1948 during the Nakba. “This little barefoot child is a symbol of my childhood. He is the same age I was when I left Palestine, and even though it was 35 years ago, I am still that age today”, the cartoonist explained in an interview with Egyptian novelist Radwa Ashour, published in 1985 in the newspaper Al Muwagaha. “I still remember the details. I remember every plant, every stone, every house, and every tree I passed as a child in Palestine”! Initially, Handala was depicted facing forward, but starting in 1973, Naji al-Ali chose to portray him from behind with his hands clasped. A form of silent rebellion. While Handala turns his back on the audience, his gaze is turned toward Palestine, where he will return. The popular character outlived his creator, who was assassinated in London in August 1987. Naji al-Ali was a strong critic of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. This long led to him being considered a pariah. EGYPTIAN FOOTBALL AT THE FOREFRONT Since the first massive Israeli army bombardments of the Gaza Strip in October 2023, “Handala-style” goal celebrations in solidarity with the Palestinian people have multiplied. Bordering Egypt was the cradle of this movement, initiated by players of the U20 national team. During the U20 women’s match against Sao Tome Principe, striker Hala Mostafa also mimed Handala after scoring. Handala and his creator, Naji al-Ali Before Wessam Abou Ali, Zamalek players celebrated their goals in this manner during a big victory against Smouha SC in the Egyptian Premier League. Photos of Zizo and captain Shikabala had made an impression. A few days earlier, on the pitch of Tanzanian team Simba SC in the African Champions League, Al Ahly players had done the same, under the gaze of FIFA President Gianni Infantino. But this gesture had already been seen on a football pitch. According to the Egyptian Chronicles website , this type of celebration first appeared in May 2021, with attacking midfielder Ahmed Abdelkader of Smouha SC, during a match against Al Entag Al Harby. It was already a way of showing support for the Palestinian people in the face of the deadly Israeli army bombardments of Gaza. At the time, few people would have understood this gesture until the Palestinian embassy in Cairo highlighted its significance and thanked Ahmed Abdelkader. HANDALA CENSORED BY DAZN AND FIFA? While Palestinian flags and messages for Gaza have been spotted in several stands in Europe and the Maghreb, Handala’s appearances are rarer outside of Egyptian stadiums. One example is CD Palestino’s Felipe Chamorro’s celebration of one of his Copa Libertadores goals against Millonarios in April 2024. It’s quite logical to see this reference to Handala from the historic club of the Palestinian community in Chile, and it’s not a complete surprise. In recent years, supporters have also been seen using Handala, such as the ultras of Club Africain in Tunisia, or those of Bnei Sakhnin FC, an Arab club in the Israeli D1. In a recent song, entitled “Al-Qadiyya”, Raja Casablanca supporters express their attachment to Palestine. The lyrics pay tribute to Mohammed al-Durrah, a child martyr killed by the Israeli army in September 2000 during the second Intifada, and to the iconic figure of Naji al-Ali: “We live the spirit of Handala, a symbol of pride and dignity, Gaza, Hebron, and Ramallah”. During the Club World Cup, Wessam Abou Ali’s celebration was crudely framed by the broadcaster in its summary of the Al Ahly-Porto match. This discreet censorship was rectified on social media, where Abou Ali’s image was widely republished and commented on. Shortly before the competition, the organization had also deleted the official photos of his teammate Hussein El Shahat, replacing him with a simple “Free Palestine” bracelet. As journalist Leyla Hamed recently wrote on X, “FIFA is not only silent on the genocide, it is gagging anyone who talks about it”. Handala has seen it all. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Machine translation The post The footballing lives of Handala appeared first on Freedom News.