Glenavon FC is pledging its support for the On The Ball campaign, which aims to ensure sanitary products for female supporters are provided free of charge in football grounds.
The club is working to ensure relevant products are available free of charge in female toilets across Mourneview Park.
On The Ball was founded by three UK female football supporters in 2018 with the aim of overcoming the stigma around periods and to tackle the issue of period poverty.
Research indicates that 10% of women and girls unable to afford sanitary wear, with a further 15% struggling with the cost.
Glenavon will become the first club in the Irish League to show their support for this campaign.
Speaking for the Club, director Leigh McClune said: “We are proud to be supporting the On The Ball campaign at Glenavon. We know affordability and accessibility to sanitary products can be a real challenge for so many girls and women, with a number of related economic, social and emotional effects. One of our aims is to make games at Mourneview accessible, diverse and more inclusive, and we think that providing free sanitary products to those who need them is an important step forward.”
On the Ball advocate Amy Carson said: “I was totally taken back by the work that On the Ball had done all within their first year of campaigning. I knew straight away that this was something that needed to be happening in the community I grew up in. Periods are a thing that are completely natural yet there is such a taboo around the subject – it’s time to change that! I am so pleased that Glenavon are following the On the Ball campaign and setting the example that period products are just as essential as toilet roll and soap.”
To find out more about On The Ball and the campaign’s progress, please follow @OnTheBaw on Twitter; or if you wish to support this campaign, please feel free to leave a small donation of sanitary products to the Club office.
Leigh Mclune, Angela Cherry, Sarah-Anne Wikie and Amy Carson launch GFCs On the Ball campaign
