Respecting the wish of the Lewes FC Board, I am not publishing any details of the proposed investment of Mercury 13.
Lewes FC Women: Eni Aluko and US-based investment group Mercury 13 want to invest – BBC Sport
(Typical of sliding journalistic standard at the BBC, the headline is wrong. They are trying to buy half the women’s team not the club.)
Ridiculously. of course, the details are in the national press but we, the actual owners have to keep schtum. You couldn’t write it. The Lewes FC board are at times historically stupid and clueless with their self importance, but we will abide with their request.
The Mercury 13 investment is conditional on Lewes FC dropping the mainstay of our brand, Equality FC so the investors do not have to fund the men’s team. Apparently the investors love what we do and what we stand for but want to extinguish our most important value.
But don’t worry, the traditional Lewes FC board factory of bullshit excuses has been working full pelt on this one. I can publish what they say as it does not contain any specific details of the deal. Here it is, smell the stench!
‘However, equality does not always mean treating men and women the same. Sometimes having an “equal” approach can mean that decisions do not fit specific needs at a particular time. This investment would shift the club into a position of equity, whereby we provide the teams with what they need to succeed, at the right time, irrespective of gender.’
That’s it folks, ‘equality does not mean treating men and women the same.’ We have been preaching this since the women’s upgrade but a whiff the money and we’ll drop our pants.
This is the ultimate cop-out, commensurate with the Orwellian Animal Farm scenario where everyone was equal on the farm until the pigs out manoeuvred the other animals and became the dominant force. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” In the same way Mercury 13 will now be calling the shots for Lewes FC Women with a proposed 51% ownership of the women and not the elected board anymore representing the 2500 owners. Ha ha, the board say they will instead have ‘input’ on decisions Mercury 13 make. Another bullshit euphonism for not having total control on decision making anymore.
Lewes FC ‘campaign’ against betting in sport, quite rightly so. You can imagine the club statement if the Mercury 13 deal does not happen and Bet Fred come in with an investment plan. ‘We know we have previously opposed betting companies. But it’s just a bit of fun like football, so we actually believe at the end of the day, we have the same values as Bet Fred.’ It is as pathetic and morally bankrupt as you can get, dropping principles in exchange for cash.
In the context of branding, the Lewes FC brand has been built on ‘Equality FC’ and this is now seemingly being sold down the river. The funny thing will be if the deal falls through and the mainstay of our branding will have collapsed and become irrelevant during this process.
Lewes FC historically have been a true force for good when it comes to advancing women’s football. The board can rightly take praise for this. However, I have argued for 13 years the community board is also self-serving, anti-democratic and has woefully failed to adhere to the core principles of a community club football club. Here is yet another example as all the good work gets torn up.
I said at the launch of the Equality FC budget parity initiative that it was a mere publicity gimmick. I do entirely agree with Equality FC mind you, let that be clear. The way it has simply been casually dropped would maybe suggest I was right all along.
This is an article on the consequences of dropping ‘Equality FC’ and does not represent my views on the partial takeover until there is considerably more clarity on what this really means financially for the club moving forward.
The Rights of Fans. 