16 February 2012
Football Fans In Training to feature in BBC documentary
An initiative to improve the health of Scottish men by allowing them to train with their favourite football club, which the University of Dundee helps evaluate, will feature in a BBC documentary this Sunday.
'Football Fans In Training' follows participants in the project of the same name as they attempt to shed pounds with the help of coaches from top Scottish Premier League clubs, and chronicles how their lives are transformed physically and psychologically as they do so.
The show will be broadcast on BBC Two Scotland at 6.45pm on Sunday, 19th February, and follow the progress of supporters of three of the clubs taking part - Celtic, Dunfermline Athletic and St Johnstone.
More than 1000 men across Scotland have signed up to the award-winning Football Fans in Training (FFIT) programme, which is being run at all SPL clubs this season. FFIT has been developed by weight management, physical activity and nutrition experts, and the team is currently carrying out a scientific study to determine the effectiveness of the initiative in helping men make real changes to their lives.
The research is being conducted at the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Dundee, and the Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences. It is funded by the Scottish Government and the Football Pools, and is overseen by the Scottish Premier League Trust.
Researchers from Dundee were primarily engaged with the methodology of evaluating FFIT, particularly how to measure its success in helping male fans lose weight and change their habits and lifestyles.
One of the Dundee researchers, Dr Shaun Treweek, Assistant Director of the Tayside Clinical Trials Unit (TCTU), said the outcomes of the project suggested that men-only programmes such as this, coupled with the emotional pull of getting involved with their favourite club, helped overcome the stigma attached to attending weight-loss programmes for some men.
"This is such a great trial to be involved in," he said. "There are lots of participants, lots of clubs, a big, collaborative research team, and the promise of really interesting results. If we find a long-term benefit at the end of the trial then we will all have something to be proud of, something that benefits both the men and clubs taking part, and the wider population."
Three-quarters of men in Scotland between the age of 35 and 65 are overweight, and 25 per cent of all men in this age group are clinically obese. The documentary shows that how, at the start of the course many of the participants were unable to run for one minute, but 12 weeks later they were playing football and going to the gym.
FFIT Project Manager Dr Cindy Gray of the University of Glasgow said, "The Football Fans in Training programme is designed to help men lose weight, improve their diets, become more active and generally feel better in themselves.
"However, to make real improvements to their health it is important that the men form new habits and keep the changes going over the months and years to come. We will be following up the current FFIT graduates for at least 12 months to find out how they are getting on."
Tom Rhodes (47), from Perth, who took part in St Johnstone FFIT at McDairmid Park said, "I used to run competitively in the late 70s/early 80s, but I had really let myself go in recent years. The Football Fans in Training programme has completely turned my life around. I have much more energy and just feel so much better both physically and mentally.
"I lost 2 and a half stone and achieved my goal of clocking a million steps on my pedometer during the 12 week course. I am well on the way to recording my second million steps, the weight is still coming off and I aim to be back running 3-4 times a week by the end of the year."
The FFIT programme has been so popular that courses are currently full, and a waiting list is being kept should places become available. For more information, or to register your interest in the programme, visit www.spl-ffit.co.uk.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277 |
