Blues use partnership with UoB to improve fans’ health
Birmingham City Football Club (BCFC)’s purpose goes far beyond winning games and silverware, its chief executive said today.
Jeremy Dale said the club is helping make its fans healthier through its partnership with the University of Birmingham [UoB].
He told WM News the club wants to be “a force for good” in the city – and it is doing that by, among other things, offering Blues fans blood tests and screening to detect issues they may need to be treated for.
More than football
“The day when Knighthead took over, we made six commitments to the fans. One of those was to be a positive force for good in the communities in which we operate,” Dale said.
Jeremy Dale spoke up at a Life Sciences Week event
“There is such a health inequality in the city and that needs to be addressed. We’ve got this beautiful partnership [with UoB] where they’ve got all the knowledge and the research and the studies and the data to show how to change the health inequality in the city.”
Dale spoke to WM News after taking part in a panel at St Andrews @ Knighthead as part of the inaugural West Midlands Life Sciences Week.
He said BCFC brings “a deep connection with so many people in the community because they love the Blues.”
“We can ask them [Blues fans] to turn up and do a litter pick and 250 people turn up at 24 hours’ notice,” he said.
Fans’ devotion led the executive team at St Andrews @ Knighthead to realise they could help improve health outcomes and life quality for Bluenoses.
Healthier and fitter fans
“We can ask them to come down and get their blood checked, get their heart tested,” said Dale.
“What we’ve already seen from a number of our fans is once they’ve come and been screened, it’s identified some problems. We know they’ve gone off and got checked out by the doctors and then they’ve sorted out their health and are much, much fitter than they ever would have been.”
There’s no doubt Dale and the rest of the suited staff at BCFC want to win football games – but the passion for looking after fans is just as strong.
He added: “Our role is to be a positive force for good in the communities. If we can do that by lending our support to the city council, to the mayor, and mobilise our partnership with UoB, that’s what we’re all about.”
BCFC is celebrating 150 years since its inception this year while UoB is celebrating 125 years. The two organisations announced a strategic partnership in January this year.
