Equal Power to the People: A look into fan-owned Lewes FC
- Christopher Coleman
- May 13, 2025
- 4 min read
With concerns that owners care about profitability more than fan relationships, I spoke to people involved at Lewes FC, the world’s first gender equal club, to find out what makes the club so unique.
Lewes FC is in the town of the same name, which is situated in Sussex, and near Brighton. When you compare Brighton’s AMEX Stadium with the Lewes’ Dripping Pan, there is a stark difference, which is also linked with their current leagues. However, a club like Lewes would see this as little more than an observation than a problem, as their focus is more about community and friendships as opposed to profit.
One of the names making sure this is always the case is director Joe Short. When I asked him about his reasoning for becoming a director at Lewes, Joe said, “I needed that accountability to make sure I did what I wanted to do at this club. And so, the only way I felt I could do that was to be a director.”
Lewes FC are known by a small section of the public for their well-documented European endeavours in the Fenix Trophy in the 23/24 season, a competition which invites twelve non-professional teams to compete for silverware. Lewes would make it out of their group but would be knocked out by eventual champions FC United of Manchester.
“We ended up going to Italy and playing in the semi-finals of the Fenix Trophy and in the group stage we played in Norway, at Oslo and Beveren,” Joe said when I asked about their time in the competition. Lewes got to play in Norway, Belgium and played their semi-final in Italy at the Stadio Tre Stelle in Brescia.
Joe also added that the selection of teams is usually down to teams who had “a purpose behind the club rather than just existing to the point of existing,” as the notoriety of these clubs are a perfect standpoint to show what you are plans for the club are.
Being a community-owned and gender-equal club does come with its own benefits, with an array of sponsors and campaigns who are representing Lewes. Some of these include toilet paper brand Who Gives a Crap, who along with the Rooks recently won the Partnership of the Year at the 2025 Football Business Awards, as well as Xero Accounting Software, of which people may have seen adverts for it on TV or online at The Dripping Pan, showing their proudness of being the shirt sponsor of Lewes FC.
Lewes does also follow the “remember your roots” direction with sponsors as well in order not to lose the fan connection with the club. This can be seen by the pub located in the ground using Harvey’s Brewery, which was founded in 1790 by John Harvey in Sussex and has their headquarters in Lewes.
“You need to create a partnership where you both get something out of it,” said Joe about the sponsorships, before adding that “by sharing our resources and sharing our voice, we can really make a generative impact, especially like Who Gives a Crap.”
When the club benefits from a community giving to them, expectedly they should feel the need to reward the volunteers and community. Although this might not necessarily be the case regarding some clubs, Lewes have done this, which has resulted in one of the most intriguing features about The Dripping Pan, that being the beach huts located in the stadium.
Joe said regarding the benefits of the beach huts, “Do you really want to come on December 17th to a home match? Probably not. But if you can lump together with five of the people and get a beach hut and sit with the heater on, then you can suddenly enjoy the game.”
Someone else I had the privilege talking to was January arrival from Haywards Heath Town Josh Spinks, who is a centre back, who also had stints at Burgess Hill Town and Three Bridges and has become a familiar name to non-league fans.
Spinks is also local to Lewes, so when he was given the captain’s armband due to Danny Bassett’s sudden absence from the squad, meaning that the club were heading out of the last couple of games of the season with a homegrown player leading them out.
“If you said in November when I came in, I'd start 23 games in a row” said Josh Spinks on taking the role of captain, “and then lead out the boys for the last couple of games, I would have laughed at you.”
Spinks also had a say on the sponsors, most notably that of Harvey’s Brewery, saying that “I have had a pint at Harvey’s. I do not personally use The Who Gives a Crap toilet paper, but it is a great sponsor, and it catches the eye.”
As well as these sponsors dotted around the stadium, there are also some campaigns the club promotes in football. One of these campaigns looks to “Kick Gambling Ads Out of Football,” which is a response to the vast number of betting companies, including Stake and Betano, sponsoring higher league football clubs.
The main selling point of Lewes FC, for brands especially, is the gender equal stance which the club has, something which both Joe and Josh had a say on. “A lot of our attention comes from our gender equality stance, which is mad because everyone should have a gender equality stance anyway.” said Joe, and Josh also added to this when he said, “everyone deserves equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities, everyone deserves that.”
Lewes FC has such a connection with the club it has become their main selling point for sponsors, and the way in which the club is run has made players like Josh Spinks join and contribute to the cause. With manager Bradley Pritchard coming in to replace Craig Nelson at the start of next season, it will be interesting to see the heights in which this club can reach in the future.
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