We're looking for help in stopping young people start smoking or vaping.
Are you involved in a youth sports club? Would you like to help us stop young people taking up smoking or vaping?
The Public Protection Partnership are working with Public Health and the Football Association on a smokefree sidelines initiative.
The campaign’s main objective is to discourage spectators from smoking cigarettes or vaping at local youth football matches. Smokefree Sidelines is not about targeting smokers and vapers unfairly, but instead asking current smokers and vapers to be aware of their visibility to children who might see them smoking or vaping. The tagline ‘We copy what we see, let’s make our sport smoke and vape free’ provides clear encouragement to smokers and vapers to either refrain, during the match, or to move away from the side lines and smoke or vape where children and young adults are not present.
Smokefree sidelines is challenging social norms to prevent the uptake of smoking and vaping in young people. One approach to address this is to promote outside spaces used by children and young people as voluntary smokefree areas, we presently have 10 clubs signed up and have provided them with free resources of flags, banners, A frame and selfie board.
Berkshire Councils and Berks & Bucks FA would like to welcome more local youth football clubs to sign up to the Smokefree Sidelines initiative. So if you’re involved in a club and would like more information on the campaign and to enquire into the free resources available to local clubs to help promote the campaign, visit the Berks & Bucks FA website.
