23 Nov 2009Manchester United fans top anti-smoking league

Football Clubs News | Football Supporters News

Manchester United are currently leading their English Premier League rivals in terms of the number of football fans giving up smoking, new figures have revealed.

Smokefree United, a virtual club set up by the NHS to encourage football supporters to kick the habit, currently has 303 members who follow the Old Trafford club.

Liverpool are in second place with 182 fans signing up to give up smoking, while Arsenal sit in third with 149 quitting supporters.

Former Chelsea and Aston Villa star Andy Townsend, who hosts a chatline on the Smokefree United website, said: "Those who've signed up for Smokefree United are there to motivate each other when the going gets tough."

John Barnes, Ian Wright and Gianfranco Zola are also supporting the initiative, which was launched in October and runs until December 20th.

According to data from the NHS, 74 per cent of smokers would like to give up cigarettes and 80 per cent of male smokers in the UK are football fans.

Written by Mark Thompson

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