Football Fans Together is a fan-led campaign that is encouraging football fans across the UK to support the NHS as well as FBB during these difficult times. The campaign is asking fans to donate the money they would normally spend on a pint at a game, or the train fare they would spend to get to a match, to these two very worthy causes doing incredible work on the frontline and within grassroots football. 

The movement is encouraging football fans to call on their family members, friends, and fellow fans to pledge whatever they can afford, to help the campaign reach the target of £200,000 to support these two charities, and to help shape the future of football as a united community for when football returns. 

Craig Swyer, founder of the Football Fans Together initiative, said: “I’m delighted to have launched Football Fans Together. The aim and objective is to raise money for two fantastic charities. NHS Charities Together, and Football Beyond Borders. We’ve already had some promising signs of support from football fan groups and we hope more will soon get involved. Big thanks to the guys from Chelsea’s We Are The Shed fan group for coming on board. As a season ticket holder in the Shed Upper I’m delighted that they’ve come on board as our first official partner.”

Tom Perez, co-founder of FBB, explained why this sort of campaign is so welcomed at this time: “We are proud to be one of the charities supported by the amazing Football Fans Together initiative. We know it’s hard times out there financially for people, but even a small contribution can go a long way if the whole football community comes together. FBB supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who are passionate about football but disengaged at school. The COVID crisis has hugely affected our work. It was the first time in 6 years we had to miss delivering a session in schools! Rather than give up and shut our operations until schools reopen, we have designed a virtual school and variety of activities to help keep young people engaged, active and healthy, and to support them with their schoolwork. We knew that disengaged & at-risk students would need us more than ever before. Social services have only had contact with 1 in 10 at risk students. These young people can often be stuck at home in difficult situations, and they need our support.”

Tom Perez continued: “When we heard about the Football Fans Together campaign, we were delighted to get involved. As a football fan myself, I’m missing football a lot, but also understanding that people’s health comes first. For many football fans, this means we have lost our ability to come together as fans and support the clubs we love. However, although we cannot do this in person, we can still come together as a football community and raise money for organisations such as the NHS and Football Beyond Borders.”

For more information on how you can support please go to www.footballfanstogether.co.uk 

Email: support@footballfanstogether.co.uk

Mobile: Craig Swyer on 07751 964998

We have recently launched our very own Virtual School to help support young people digitally during the COVID19 crisis. If you’d like more information on this, read this article.

If you feel able to support FBB during these difficult times, please donate here: https://www.footballbeyondborders.org/donate/