Crystal Palace Ladies’ players have been told that they will have to cough up £250 apiece if the club is to keep going.
With the new newly-formed FA Women’s Championship set to kick-off this weekend, Palace Ladies were reportedly informed recently that they will have to either raise the money in sponsorship or pay out of their own pockets.
Palace say the money is an “annual subscription fee” that must be paid by senior players to keep the team afloat, but nevertheless many squad members are worried about not being able to raise the specified amount in such a short space of time.
An anonymous source close to the club told the Guardian:
Some of the players, particularly the younger ones, are really stressed about having to find the money.
Just to really rub it in, the demand was also made in the very same week Palace awarded a new £130,000-a-week contract to Wilfried Zaha.
The Guardian also claim to have seen the correspondence sent between the club and their players, with the same source describing the letter signed by chairman Richard Spokes – designed to be handed on to potential sponsors, asking for their backing – as “very patronising”.
They also add that it is believed Palace have put a “£50 a month payment plan” in place for players who cannot afford to pay for themselves in one lump sum.
Call us naive, but it might be nice for the mens’ team to club together and pay these subscription fees on the Ladies’ behalf, given that they all make £250 in a matter of hours.
Then, the more over-reaching issues of disparity and inequality can perhaps start to be addressed a little more thoroughly.