Lewes FC: A football team that's winning both on and off the pitch

  • Video report by ITV News Meridian's Andy Dickenson

Lewes FC was named Team of the Year by none other than The Times recently.

The women's side, paid the same as the men's, is currently battling it out with the likes of Liverpool for promotion to the top tier of the game.

There has been a football club in Lewes since 1885, founded in a pub a few hundred yards from its stadium, the Dripping Pan.

Naturally for Lewes, it was in a pub where fans decided to save it. One of them was Charlie Dobres.

Charlie Dobres was one of the people who wanted to save the club. Credit: ITV News Meridian

The club is the first in the country to budget equally for the men's and women's teams, it's not-for-profit, 100% fan owned, and since it has made these changes attendance has increased.

The women's team is competing in the country's second tier against the likes of Liverpool, Sheffield and Blackburn Rovers.

Credit: ITV News Meridian

The club's ambitions couldn't be higher, seeing football as an engine for change. Campaigning, for instance, for gambling advertising to be kicked out of the sport.

The men's team currently lying third in their league, will be playing Hornchurch on Saturday, the women taking on Crystal Palace on Sunday.