International Men’s Day

 

Club and community arrange activities to encourage conversation on manhood and masculinity

 2021 theme focusses on making a positive difference to the wellbeing and lives of men and boys

 We are proud to support International Men’s Day, which takes place on Friday 19th November.

 The International Men’s Day campaign is growing in the UK year-on-year, with over 200 organisations raising awareness of the cause over the past two years.

 As a Premier League club, Burnley Football Club, along with official charity Burnley FC in the Community, are committed to raising awareness of the campaign with the hope of increasing the focus on men’s mental health and wellbeing.

 This year’s theme is to ‘make a positive difference to the wellbeing and lives of men and boys,’ focussing on issues such as health and mental wellbeing, fatherhood, employment and education, isolation and loneliness, homelessness and all forms of abuse including domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Highlighting the importance of positive role models for boys and young men, we were proud to initiate conversation by facilitating a roundtable discussion with different male figures from across the club and community department, including participants of community projects and fans. We focussed on eight questions such as ‘what does it mean to be a man?’.

 Encompassing a range of backgrounds and job roles, the group included the club's Head of Matchday Operations Russell Ball, Operations & Facilities Intern Adrian Lecoustre, Burnley FC Inclusion Advisory Board Attendee & Green Party Councillor Scott Cunliffe and Burnley FC Youth Advisory Board Member Liam Williams.

 Male students from Coal Clough Academy and West Craven High School also gave a valuable insight into being a young male in 2021, highlighting the perspectives of different generations.

 Clarets+ commentator Phil Bird, who was in attendance on the day, said: “I come from a generation where you really didn’t open-up. You were told to be expressionless and get on with your life. Despite the trials and tribulations, you may have faced, you were expected to put a face on to hide those emotions. Thankfully, its different now.

 “Having a diverse age group as part of the panel today, really helped me in understanding how far we have come in understanding men’s mental health.”

 A key takeaway message from the discussion was how positive steps have been taken to encourage men to open up and talk about their feelings and their struggles.

 Burnley FC Women Manager, Matt Bee, said: “I think at times a male role model can come across as this perfect superhero.

“However, it’s important to remember we are all human. We all face adversity through different obstacles and at times we can get things wrong. Despite role models having some good aspects, there are also lessons we can learn from mistakes and unfortunate decisions, which is always inevitable.”

 In addition to the roundtable discussion, Burnley FC in the Community Primary & Secondary School Engagement Manager Gwilym Jones and Phil Bird recorded a Podcast with members of the group, to reflect on the roundtable, which is available for all to listen to.

Reflecting on the day, Gurpri Bains, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Lead for Burnley FC, said: “As a football club we are in a prime position to positively promote male conversation and encourage an open dialogue around International Men’s Day.

“It was so insightful to listen to the groups open discussion at the roundtable, it was important to bring together people from varied backgrounds, with different experiences and stories to tell. Opening the conversation on what expectations and values are attributed to being a man, the positive and negatives of male stereotyping and delving into the meaning behind the statement man-up.

 “The work International Men’s Day are doing in this area, to encourage conversation, is imperative and we wanted to help support their message that there is support and resources out there for men who may be struggling.”

 The work around mental wellbeing is ongoing at Burnley FC who recently organised mental health training for staff, with 16 staff from across the football club and charity trained as Mental Health First Aiders, the club also recently begun the recruitment for a newly created position of a club psychologist working across the entirety of the club.

 In further commitment to increasing awareness around mental health, Charity, Burnley FC in the Community, offer the Schools’ Mental Wellbeing Project, which is currently delivered in eleven high schools within Burnley and Pendle. The aim of the project is to support young people with their mental wellbeing by having a full time BFCitC Mental Wellbeing Worker, in each of the eleven schools. Find out more about the club and Mike Garlick here.