KICK-OFF SEMINAR – ACTIVE FANS & HEALTHY FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Over the past two days, representatives from 9 EFDN network member clubs came together at KAA Gent Foundation in Belgium, for the kick-off seminar of the new pan-European Active Fans and Healthy Football League Programme. The programme is co-funded by Erasmus+ and involves the collaboration between Fulham FC, Vitesse, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Rangers FC, Ferencváros TC, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord Rotterdam, KAA Gent and Valerenga Fotball.
The Active Fans and Healthy Football League programme aims to develop a new European methodology using football to engage men and women age 35 years and older in physical activity, to improve their diets and to make healthy lifestyle changes. The programme uses the club as a hook to engage with fans. The club facilities, stadium, coaches and training grounds are motivational tools and incentives for fans who are less likely to take part in physical exercise, to get involved in a healthy living programme. Within the framework of the development of the Active Fans methodology, a Healthy Football League will be established. The Healthy Football League will be an online competition that encourages the participants of the Active Fans programme to make healthy lifestyle choices and offers the possibility to compete online with fans from other clubs to become the healthiest club in Europe!
The seminar was an opportunity for participating clubs and organisations to share knowledge about their existing methodologies and programmes and combine all best practices to develop an overarching European methodology supported by football clubs from the Netherlands, UK, Hungary, Norway, Belgium and Germany. Additionally, the project will be supported by local, national and international organisations, FA’s and local governments.
SHARING BEST PRACTICES AND METHODOLOGIES
Fulham FC Foundation shared their FanActiv methodology, highlighting strengths such as partnerships with local stakeholders such as the London Health Commission and turning rivalry between football fans into motivation for getting involved in healthy competition between fans at different clubs and using a Fitbit to measure activity. The Rangers Charity Foundation shared their knowledge regarding the delivery of their Football Fans in Training methodology, highlighting coaching experience, consistency and building strong relationships with participants as being strengths of the programme. Both Vitesse of the Netherlands and Valerenga of Norway have experience with the EuroFIT programme, which was a research study funded by the European Union and highlighted scientific research on the topic and partnerships with universities.
The seminar provided a platform for all the practitioners to discuss the knowledge gained and challenges they faced in their experiences delivering health based programmes and how they can collectively combine their best practices to develop the overarching European Active Fans and Healthy Football League programme. Topics that were discussed included club and programme presentations, communication strategies, monitoring and evaluation practices and discussions about the methodology and delivery. The intention is to create a club and participant driven programme in Europe that provides a variety of sustainable tools that encourage behavioural change in regards to physical activity and a healthy lifestyle, and that ultimately, clubs can continue to deliver on their own for years to come.
The seminar was a great introduction for all involved and an informative and exciting kick-off for the two year pan-European programme. Practitioner’s from all participating clubs and organisations left feeling inspired to channel the power of their football clubs to provide an engaging experience for fans to feel part of their club in a meaningful way, while improving health outcomes for fans across Europe.
