Lewes star’s leg fracture overshadows FA Cup victory
Lewes soared into the Women’s FA Cup Third Round on Sunday with a 3-0 win over AFC Sudbury, in a game where the score was overshadowed by the injury to Sammy Quayle which delayed play for more than half an hour.
The Rooks were two up when Quayle went down under a challenge in the penalty area. It was immediately clear that she needed medical attention and, after a long wait in which she was seen to by medical staff from both teams, a Sudbury player, and her own teammates, she was eventually taken to hospital.
Lewes had taken the lead just two minutes in thanks to Paula Howells’ lovely footwork. The playmaker got round the Sudbury defence, and squared a pass to Lois Roche, who had time to take a touch and shoot, wrong-footing Sudbury goalkeeper Amelia Carter and half-volleying it into the bottom-left corner.
Olivia Carpenter doubled the lead on 34 minutes with an emphatic finish to slide past Carter, after receiving the ball from Roche following a great run down the left hand side.
It was a match which saw a lot of back and forth between the two sides, with not many clear-cut chances. Midway through the second half Quayle was tackled in the penalty area, causing a long stoppage in play whilst she received treatment and an ambulance was called. Paramedics eventually arrived and took Quayle off on a stretcher. She was taken to hospital.
It was confirmed on Tuesday that Quayle underwent surgery on Monday for a fractured tibia and fibula. Lewes said: “Everybody at the club and our whole football community sends our love and best wishes to Sammy for a speedy recovery. We are all here for you.”
Back at the game, following the delay in play there was a penalty to be taken for the Rooks, and Roche stepped up to take it, unfortunately placing it in the direction of the diving Carter who was able to make the save.
Yet only 90 seconds after Roche’s missed penalty, Muna Eze topped off the win with a strange finish which came from a Carpenter header lobbing the keeper on the bounce. It looked to be going in, but Eze wasn’t taking any chances and chased the ball into the net, giving it the final touch.
Relevant to the theme of the day, it was disappointing to see Quayle wait so long for paramedics. Despite Lewes FC being a third-tier women’s football team, lack of funding in the FA Cup means they aren’t provided with an on-site ambulance.
Their Equal FA Cup campaign aims to achieve equal prize money for men’s and women’s teams in one of the world’s most well-known domestic football competitions – and that means being treated with equal respect.
Indeed, a 21-second pause at the start of the game was held to protest in line with the Equal FA Cup campaign. Twenty one seconds marks the fact that it was in 1921 that the FA banned women from playing football. The ban lasted for 50 years until 1971, the year of the first women’s FA Cup.
While the win itself was a comfortable one in the end for Lewes, it is important to highlight that what happened to Quayle is exactly why the Equal FA Cup campaign exists. More funding into the women’s game will prevent situations like this from happening in the future.
Meanwhile in the Third Round draw, Lewes FC were drawn away to Charlton Athletic. The tie will take place on Sunday, December 8.