Hayes claims prize money in woman's game is unacceptable - FA say that they are driving it’s growth
Emma Hayes is scathing at the FA over the prize money allocated to the women’s game in general,
Speaking after the midweek 2-0 WSL win over West Ham Hayes said: “There was a brilliant letter from the Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana to culture secretary Nadine Dorries complaining about the disparity in FA prize money in the men’s and women’s game.
“Only five per cent of FA’s total prize money goes towards women’s football. That’s unbelievable and unacceptable.
“This has to shift, it really does. Because when we talk about the likes of Coventry United going into a liquidation process, or seeking a buyer, think about the impact an appearance in the FA Cup could make to them, if they could receive prize money? So I was really pleased she highlighted that.
“This is a significant news story that we have to keep highlighting because we must protect our smaller clubs. We have got to grow the women’s game. We can only do that with prize money and an increase in broadcasting.
“So for the likes of Coventry and those clubs further down the ladder it’s absolutely critical that it’s debated in Parliament.”
A spokesman for the FA said: “The FA has had a clear plan for women’s football that has seen it become one of the biggest successes across sport in our country. The growth at all levels has been game changing and we’re incredibly proud of the progress that we have led.
“To drive this growth we invested more than £50million into our initial ‘Gameplan for Growth’ strategy; which doubled female participation, delivered professional and semi-professional women’s football and a successful England team. We built on this with even more investment in our ‘Inspiring Positive Change’ strategy that launched last year, with a long-term plan to work with Barclays FA Women's Super League and FA Women’s Championship clubs to accelerate growth of audiences and revenues. This will help make women’s football in England more commercially viable in the future and allow further reinvestment.
“The Vitality Women’s FA Cup’s significant development over the last few years is just one example of this growth. While the competition doesn’t yet drive commercial revenue to fund prize money growth, The FA Board has agreed a significant increase in prize money to support the competition’s continued development. More details are to be announced in due course and the additional prize money will come into effect from the 2022/23 season.”
