This summer saw the England women’s national football team soar to new heights at the FIFA Women’s World Cup, with many commentators praising the Lionesses for inspiring more girls to take up the sport.
Despite a lingering perception that football is a man’s game, the community-owned Lewes Football Club is somewhat of a pioneer in gender equality in the game. It is reportedly the only football club in the world where men and women are treated and paid equally. Inspired by Lewes’ women’s team, Surrey-based artist Jill Iliffe has created a series of paintings and drawings featuring current Lewes FC players, future stars and past footballers.
The show, called Women x Football = Art, opens on 11 November at the Depot Cinema in Lewes and aims to inspire women to live their best lives.
By her own admission, Jill is not a “sporty person”, but has long been fascinated by women’s football. In 2007 she depicted two Muslim women playing football for a national exhibition and it was recently purchased by the National Football Museum in Manchester, where it is now on permanent display.
“That reignited my interest in football and, as I was in Lewes at the time, I got in touch with Lewes Football Club because I knew that they have a reputation for treating women equally,” Jill explains.
Lewes FC gave Jill access to past and present players and she set about interviewing the women to find out what drives them to keep pushing against the grain of gender stereotypes.
This story is from the November 2019 edition of Sussex Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 2019 edition of Sussex Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
TAKE YOUR TIME
Dean Edwards’ new cookbook features delectable recipes that you can slow cook or stick in the oven. Here’s a selection of the best
Decorative art
Not simply functional, treat your walls like an extension of your personality
ON THE FRONT FOOT
The rugby legend took the reins at Sussex County Cricket Club in 2017, rekindling his love for a sport that first won his heart on the village cricket fields of North Yorkshire
NAKED AMBITION
In the 1980s, Christine and Jennifer Binnie partied with Boy George and Marilyn and bared all as performance art collective The Neo-Naturists. Now they are working together to gain the recognition they feel they deserve
ROCKET MAN
Astronaut Tim Peake has come a long way since growing up in Westbourne and attending Chichester High School for Boys: 248 miles above Earth, to be precise. But, he says, life on the International Space Station has a lot in common with family caravanning holidays
Revolution man
Lewes’ most famous resident Thomas Paine may be the greatest propagandist who ever lived. But how did a humble customs and excise officer ignite the touchpaper for revolution in not one but two countries?
THE DIARY
17 exciting things to do this month in East and West Sussex
All in a day's work
Meet Tim Dummer, who has helped keep Midhurst’s Cowdray Estate shipshape for an impressive five decades
My favourite Sussex
Bruce Fogle is an author and a vet with a practice in London who has lived in West Sussex with his wife, the actress Julia Foster, since 1989. He recently became president of RSPCA Mount Noddy near Chichester
10 OF THE BEST Meat-free restaurants in Brighton and Hove
Brighton is often rated one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the UK. What these restaurants prove is that plant-based food doesn’t have to be puritanical – at all of these places you’ll find big flavours and a desire to push the envelope
