Vanarama, who joined forces with Non-League Day and Prostate Cancer UK for ‘Thumbs Up for Non-League Day’ on Saturday 6 September, have donated almost £8000 to the charity.
The five-day campaign received widespread support from the Football industry and other Sporting celebrities, with a “call to arms” to recruit personalities who love the game and put their “thumbs up” for Non-League day to raise awareness of the event.
The reaction across social media was incredible with a number of Barclays Premier League Clubs, and current players including Charlie Austin, Remy Cabella, Curtis Davies and Frazier Campbell supporting the initiative. Messages of support were also received from Football legends including Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Robbie Savage, Chris Waddle, Jeff Stelling and Chris Hughton, and from The Premier League itself, and its domestic broadcast partners BT Sport and BSkyB.
The campaign also transcended football with darts players, European Tour golfers and even ex-World Snooker Champion Steve Davis tweeting photos with ‘Thumbs Up’. In total over 4,600 tweets were made using the hashtag #thumbsup4NLD.
The publicity push, which encouraged fans to go and watch their local team on Non-League Day, resulted in a combined attendance across the Vanarama Conference of 38,675. Prior to the campaign launch Vanarama pledged to donate 10p to Prostate Cancer UK on behalf of every fan who attended a Vanarama Conference match on the day. Vanarama have decided to double this to 20p per fan, and will donate a total of £7,735 to the charity
Full details of the campaign can be found at www.vanarama.co.uk/thumbsup4nld
Andy Alderson, Owner & Managing Director of the Autorama Group, said: “Non-League Day is a fantastic event and one we were delighted to support through our campaign. We are very committed to our partnership with the Football Conference and it was very pleasing to see how fans, clubs and players from all levels of Football got behind ‘thumbs up’.
Mark Bishop, Director of Fundraising for Prostate Cancer UK, said: “Using football as a way of talking to men about a disease that kills one man every hour has proved incredibly powerful. Reaching out through the grassroots game has helped us spread our net further through clubs and supporters. We’re so grateful to the fantastic backing from Vanarama, over a hugely successful weekend. By so generously doubling their donation they are helping us in our quest to save men’s lives.”
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the UK. Over 40,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. Every hour 1 man dies from prostate cancer. One in four black men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lives. Prostate Cancer UK fights to help more men survive prostate cancer and enjoy a better quality of life. It funds research into causes and treatments and provides support and information.
Men United v Prostate Cancer is a call for men to join together in a movement against the common enemy of prostate cancer. The aim is to build a united front of men against this disease by spreading the message about one of the UK’s biggest man killers, supporting men affected by it, and intensifying the search for more reliable tests and treatments for the future. Men are being asked to sign for Men United by visiting www.prostatecanceruk.org/menunited where they can also test their health knowledge by taking a quick quiz.
