The Blackburn Rovers Community Trust is teaming up with the Football Foundation, the Department of Health and the Men's Health Forum to use the power of football to help fight cancer amongst men in and around Blackburn.
Managed nationally by the Football Foundation, Ahead of the Game aims to raise awareness through the power of football of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of bowel, lung and prostate cancer amongst men aged 55 years and above.
The project that the Blackburn Rovers Community Trust and local PCT staff will deliver on match days and at events within the local community is called Alive and Kicking. It is part of the nation-wide Ahead of the Game five-club pilot initiative that has been conceived and funded by the Football Foundation and the Department of Health.
The Football Foundation and the Department of Health are jointly providing £186,000 towards Ahead of the Game. Earlier this year they invited football club community schemes' to bid for funding. Now, during Men's Health Week, Blackburn Rovers Community Trustis one of five club community schemes that have been successful in being awarded a grant.
The Blackburn Rovers Community Trust project will deliver:
· A series of 55 two-hour community road shows delivering awareness and education sessions and free screening to complement mainstream screening activities by the PCT. Road shows will be delivered in a variety of settings. These will include community centres, mosques, cricket, bowling and working men's clubs and on match days at the stadium, reaching a diverse range of men in settings in which they feel comfortable, and are culturally, religiously and gender sensitive.
· Healthy lifestyle MOT checks will be delivered at these road shows, as well as information about smoking cessation, healthy lifestyle advice, advice on the early detection of cancer, one to one health and nutritional advice.
· Small sided football and cricket competitions and fitness classes will be delivered at Blackburn Rovers Indoor Centre prior to home fixtures. All men engaged through the road shows will be signposted to these events. They will also be given a 'Beez Card' - an initiative with Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council providing free access to all council leisure facilities in the town.
Ann Keen MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Health Services at the Department of Health, said: "The Department of Health is very pleased to be working with the Football Foundation to deliver the Ahead of the Game programme. The earlier a cancer can be diagnosed the greater the prospect it can be treated successfully. The popular appeal of football provides an excellent opportunity to get this message out to the public.
"I am delighted that, through Ahead of the Game, the Blackburn Rovers Community Trust will be working with men over 55 to raise awareness of lung, bowel and prostate cancers and to explain the benefits of early diagnosis."
Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation added: "Our warmest congratulations go to the Blackburn Rovers Community Trust. Ahead of the Game is a truly innovative project that uses football's appeal to overcome the stigma that prevents many men from presenting themselves early for diagnosis and screening.
"We are delighted to be teaming up with the Department of Health and the Men's Health Forum and look forward to seeing the Ahead of the Game pilot roll out and potentially save lives through early detections that would otherwise have gone unnoticed."
The Football Foundation is dedicated to revitalising the grass roots of the game, constructing modern football facilities, developing football as a force for social cohesion and as a vehicle for education in communities throughout the country. Funded by the Premier League, The Football Association and the Government, the Football Foundation is the nation's largest sports charity with a £40m budget going straight into the heart of football.
