Earlier this month, a pitch invader made it onto the turf at a Champions League match in London between Chelsea and Juventus, causing a brief suspension. Footage of the incident shows the young man, dressed in light jeans and a dark parka, sauntering up and touching a Chelsea player, swaggering Liam-Gallagher style to the centre circle while the crowd boos, taking a selfie with a member of the Juve team in the background before falling to the turf as Chelsea’s striker drops a shoulder. He scampers off as two stewards lumber after him.

The football authorities take pitch invasions seriously. As well as exposing players to risk, they disrupt games and tarnish the sport. Clubs work closely with police and spend huge amounts of money on stewarding to ensure that such incidents are kept to a minimum. Those who choose to vault the hoardings at a match know that they do so at the risk of getting forcibly removed by stewards before having their collar felt by officers.

But not at this game.

Indeed, the only sanction handed out for such imbecilic behaviour was that the striker who attempted to check the invader’s progress was handed a yellow card – because this was a women’s Champions League match and the protections we offer our male sports stars do not extend to their female counterparts.

Shortly after the game, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that they had not arrested the invader, nor would they do so. Chelsea Football Club banned him from attending future matches.

There is a loophole in the law here, and it is one that needs addressing. Under the 1991 Football (Offences) Act, it is “an offence for a person at a designated football match to go onto the playing area … without lawful authority or lawful excuse.” Which means, at a designated football match, the swaggering villain of the Chelsea Vs Juventus game can be arrested and fined £1,000. But the law also outlines what constitutes a “designated football match” and that is where women are – as they have often been throughout sports history – excluded.

The Football (Offences) (Designation of Football Matches) Order from 2011 is clear on what constitutes a “designated” match – one in which a playing team is a “member of the English Football League, the Premier League, the Football Conference or the League of Wales, or represents a country or territory.” So it’s hard luck if you’re a player representing a team in the FA Women’s Super League, Women’s FA Cup or UEFA Women’s Champions League.

The law of the UK exists to protect Manchester United captain Harry Maguire who stands almost six foot four inches tall and weighs nearly 16 stone, but doesn’t protect Manchester City Women’s captain Steph Houghton who’s over half a foot shorter and six stones lighter.

The Home Office has defended the current set-up, releasing a statement saying “where matches are not designated, they are subject to general public order legislation”. That’s as may be, but if male footballers are offered protection beyond general public order laws, why aren’t women?

The Welsh Premier League – where games are considered “designated matches” – has an average attendance of just over 300 spectators. The Women’s FA Cup Final three weeks ago had more than 40,000 fans in the stadium. Any one of which, it transpires, could have bolted onto the pitch without fearing the sanction faced for the same behaviour at a Caernarfon Town Vs Aberystwyth Town game.

All those associated with the women’s game accept that there is a mountain to climb to get a fraction of the sort of support, recognition and investment that exists for this country’s male Premier League and Champions League sides. But they’ve been working hard to build the game and show a new generation of girls that, if you’re good enough, football can be a viable career. Chelsea Women’s manager, Emma Hayes, says equity under the law is about securing basic protection. “You do have to think about player safety. We’ve seen in the growth of the game, there is this sense that the players are more in demand. So, I think it should serve as a reminder to us all, our stadiums, and our stewards, we’ve got to put player protection first.”

A group of female politicians is now trying to force the change. Led by former sports minister Tracey Crouch, they’ve written to the Government citing the Chelsea incident and seeking designated match status for women’s games in order to ensure “parity of protection to female footballers afforded to their male counterparts.”

Full disclosure, I am one of the names on the letter pushing for the change. This isn’t a complicated bit of legal housekeeping and wouldn’t require primary legislation. But it is a basic unfairness and we’re not satisfied with the Home Office’s position that other laws will serve.

If we are serious about ending the Cinderella status of women’s sports, we need to ensure the athletes competing are offered fairness and equity under the law.