Leeds Met's pioneering Tackling Men's Health campaign is giving rugby fans the opportunity to tackle the issues of men's health and kick them into touch.
Tackling Men's Health is now a major partnership with the Department of Health and the NHS forming a key part of the region's promotion of the Change4Life campaign.
Building on last year's successful pilot, this year's campaign will bring together a range of organisations at every Leeds Rhinos home match during their 2009 engage Super League campaign and will give rugby fans the opportunity to address the issues of men's health.
Activities and services provided on match days will include roving health checks, smoking cessation groups and weight loss campaigns as well as health teams providing specific information on men's health and encouraging male rugby fans to be self-aware and where necessary take action.
The world's first Professor of Men's Health, Alan White, from Leeds Met said: "Men's lifestyle choices, including higher levels of smoking, drinking, risk taking and diet, contribute to a lower life expectancy than that of women. This can become worsened by a socialisation process which sees men less likely to use health services for fear of being seen as weak. The presence of a regular captive audience at rugby league matches presents the opportunity to target a significant number of men with a range of topical men's health issues and to get them involved in taking better care of themselves."
"The emerging message is that men are interested in their health but do not find it easy to freely discuss their health concerns. However, we've found that, when the opportunity to discuss health is presented in a familiar environment, men are willing to listen and take note."
The Tackling Men's Health initiative is a partnership between Leeds Met, the Department of Health, the Leeds Men's Health Network, Men's Health Plus (specialist Men's Health Nurses), Leeds Rugby Club, NHS Yorkshire and the Humber and NHS Leeds.
Jane Riley, Associate Director of Public Health for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: "We recognise that men tend to have poorer health than women, and we are keen to find more effective ways of helping men take better care of themselves. This collaboration with Leeds Met and the Leeds Rhinos is a real opportunity for the Department of Health and the NHS to provide advice and help in a way and a setting that many men prefer. Although weight is often considered to be a women's issue, many more men are overweight than women and we welcome the opportunity to encourage rugby fans and their families to join the Change4Life movement - and Eat Well, Move More and Live Longer."
The Tackling Men's Health campaign was first launched in 2008 and targeted a number of rugby league and rugby union matches. Feedback from fans was very positive - many heard from their friends that help was at hand and were keen to find out more - so this season the men's health experts will target fans at every single Rhinos home game, beginning this evening when the Rhinos take on the Wakefield Wildcats.
The collaboration between Leeds Met's health faculty and Leeds Rugby highlights the benefit of partnerships to the university bringing together health expertise with a leading professional sports team.
In 2008 the University's 'Tackling Men's Health initiative reached over 100,000 sports fans culminating in activities at the final of Rugby League's most prestigious domestic knockout tournament, the Carnegie Challenge Cup, at Wembley Stadium in August where they discussed men's health issues with over 80,000 fans.
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Tackling Men's Healthby LeedsMetUni722 views
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