28 Sep 2009Football clubs join bid to raise cancer awareness

Football Clubs News | Football Supporters News

A new campaign to educate older men about the dangers of cancer is targeting football fans at several English clubs.

Entitled Ahead of the Game - Organise Your Defence, the project was launched at Fratton Park before Portsmouth's English Premier League clash with Everton on Saturday (September 26th).

Blackburn Rovers, Brighton & Hove Albion, Scunthorpe United and Norwich City are also taking part in the campaign, which will see nurses offering free health checks and advice to supporters at matches.

Health secretary Andy Burnham told the BBC: "We know that men over the age of 55 are particularly at risk from some of the big killers - bowel cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer.

"By bringing this information in on a match day, we can really help build their awareness and get them to the GP perhaps earlier than they would otherwise have gone."

The Ahead of the Game campaign will be organised by the Football Foundation, a grassroots sports charity funded by the English Premier League, the FA and the government.

Written by Tom Jenkins

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