LEADING men’s health charity Movember has announced a £4.2 million investment into its youth mental health programme, Movember Ahead of the Game.
Expanding its reach across the UK over the next three years, the programme, delivered through community sport, aims to improve mental health literacy, build resilience, and provide young people with the skills needed to face life’s challenges both on and off the field.
Movember is proud to welcome 50 new delivery partners over the next three years including the foundations of Premier League, Super League and Scottish Premiership clubs, such as, Manchester City’s City in the Community, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, Wigan Warriors, Hull FC, Warrington Wolves, Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust, and St. Mirren FC Charitable Foundation. These new partnerships will work with the programme’s existing implementation partners Rugby League Cares and SAMH.
According to NHS England, one in five children and young people aged 8-25 had a probable mental health condition in 2023. Additionally, 50% of mental health conditions are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24. In Scotland, the prevalence of anxiety among young people has doubled in the past decade, with the Scottish Health Survey 2022 reporting that 25% of 16 to 24-year-olds experience anxiety.
Movember Ahead of the Game engages the entire local community sports ecosystem, providing interactive workshops that equip young athletes, parents, coaches, umpires, and volunteers with the tools to understand mental health, develop mental fitness, and support one another. Through this initiative, over 68,000 participants in the UK will benefit from mental health education and resilience training by 2027.
Paul Williams, Director of Young Men’s Health Implementation Europe at Movember, said:
“We are excited to announce our new partnerships, including Premier League club foundations, that will help us take Movember Ahead of the Game to new heights. Our evidence-based programme meets young people where they are — on the field, in their communities — and provides them with the knowledge and tools to build mental resilience for life.”
Movember’s official implementation partner, Rugby League Cares, has delivered the MAOTG programme to over 20,000 young people across England since 2022. With additional funding and new partnerships, the programme is set to engage 68,000 more participants, expanding its impact and ensuring that more young people receive essential mental health education.
Movember Ambassador, Leyton Orient F.C defender, and chair of the Professional Footballers’ Association, Omar Beckles, said:
“It’s of great personal joy that Movember Ahead of the Game is reaching more young people than ever. I love seeing how the kids and communities thrive through receiving this much-needed mental health support in their local sports setting. It’s a programme that would have been a great help for me when I was coming up, so knowing the next generation will have these skills is unbeatable.”
Rugby League Cares Head of Wellbeing Programmes Keith Senior, said:
“We’ve been delivering Movember Ahead of the Game since 2021, and since then, the one thing that hits home every time is how powerfully the programme works, both for young people and their coaches, parents and carers. It’s difficult to overstate the impact Movember Ahead of the Game is having on the communities where we have delivered: the power of sport is real.
“The programme’s ability to impact on the mental fitness of participants is significant, equipping them with the tools and awareness they need to deal with the daily challenges of everyday life. RL Cares is proud and privileged to be involved in Ahead of the Game and to work with Movember to share our experience and expertise with the wider sporting world.”
Aberdeen FC captain, Graeme Shinnie, said:
“Sport and physical activity play a hugely important role in maintaining good mental health, but Movember’s support of the innovative Ahead of the Game project will now also equip young people with the mental resilience they need.
“It will also enable them to build a support network of coaches, parents and carers who are equally well informed which will be hugely beneficial. Football, like all competitive sports, has many highs and lows, and this programme is a fantastic way of helping young players to navigate that often challenging journey.”
To achieve this goal, RL Cares is expanding its network to include 20 additional delivery partners across England and Wales. Current partners include:
- Leeds Rhinos Foundation
- Everton in the Community
- Fulham FC Foundation
- Sheffield Eagles Foundation
- Hull FC Foundation
- Warrington Wolves Community Foundation
- Wigan Warriors Community Foundation
- Tottenham Hotspur Foundation
- Palace for Life Foundation (Crystal Palace)
- City in the Community (Manchester City)
- Yorkshire County Cricket Foundation.
In Scotland, Movember has partnered with SAMH to support 20,000 young people through sport. Over the next three years, SAMH will train and support 30 delivery partners to expand MAOTG to even more communities.
Movember Ahead of the Game is part of a broader global sports health initiative aimed at improving the sporting environment and fostering behavioural change for young men. Movember remains committed to investing in research, real-world programme delivery, and advocacy to ensure better mental health outcomes for future generations.
For more information on the Movember Ahead of the Game programme, watch this video or visit the website here.
