Football club march dressed as Spartans for mental health charity

A local football club are marching 20 miles from Cheddar Gorge to Bristol dressed as Spartans to raise money for mental health awareness. Spartans F.C from Bristol will be embarking on the epic trek on Sunday, August 4 and are hoping to raise £2000 for Bristol Mind.

Josh Evans, who runs the club, is planning to wear a three-and-a-half kilo handcrafted Spartan helmet for the march. Josh, who wore the helmet for another charity march in 2021, said: "I felt like my head was going to fall off!"

The football team, who have been campaigning for mental health awareness since 2018, are concerned there is still a stigma against men seeking support. Josh said: "When we set up in 2008, the stigma was unbelievable. That's sixteen years ago. The progress from then to now has been unbelievable, but there's still so much work to do."

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Data from the Office for National Statistics has revealed that men may be at a higher risk of suicide than women: in 2022, 5.3 women per 100,000 people aged 10 or over committed suicide in England. Meanwhile, 16.1 men for every 100,000 people committed suicide, more than three times the rate of women.

Men between the ages of 50 and 54 were found to be especially vulnerable, with a suicide rate of 23.1 per 100,000 people.

Spartans FC are passionate about promoting mental health on and off the pitch. Josh says his team has an open door policy where everyone knows they can reach out for support if they need it.

Josh also believes football can be a powerful tool for promoting wellbeing: "It's football, football, football every day of the week. I work in football and my escape is football.

"The biggest escape for me is being able to get out there and exercise. I played football with my friends and just disconnect from the real world for those 90 minutes."

Spartans F.C will be marching 20 miles between Cheddar Gorge and Bristol on Sunday, August 4. You can donate to their fundraiser online. If you're struggling with your mental health, there is help available.

Help for mental health

• Campaign Against Living Miserably (call their suicide prevention hotline at 0800 58 58 58 or use their live chat between 5pm and midnight every day).

• Childline (for people 18 or younger) (call 0800 1111 or use their live chat service).

• Mind (call 0300 123 3393 or email info@mind.org.uk for information and support).

• NHS.

• Samaritans (call 116 123 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for free, email jo@samaritans.org, or send a letter to Freepost SAMARITANS LETTERS).