Francis Duku: One big team effort

Francis Duku – Former Non-League defender and founder of The Sports Circle

Excitement is really building for Non- League Day – we’re looking forward to another enjoyable occasion.

Clubs and leagues are ramping up their own preparations, the @non-leaguedayuk social media mentions are really filling up, too as the whole game gets involved.

As always, there are so many great ideas. Every club can have a different one – and a different reason behind it – to encourage people through the turnstiles.

It’s a great day to test out ideas. Does it work? Is there a good appetite for a particular offer?

Intrigue

Generally, people find out there is. Then, can you rinse, repeat and build and consider how to best make use of the day to become more sustainable and grow?

For many, Non-League Day has been their entry into this level of the game. They loved it and now keep coming back regularly.

We’re not saying don’t support a pro club, but be part of a local Non-League club as much as you can as well. They can co-exist.

When Non-League Day was founded in 2010 by James Doe, who’d have thought it would spread as far and wide as it has?

There is so much intrigue for Non-League Day outside of England. The fact that this idea has taken itself through Europe just shows the strength of interest that exists for clubs at these levels.

Over the years, we’ve had conversations with groups from Holland, Germany and France.

Support

Athletic Bilbao now hold their own version in the Basque region – and this year we’ve got support from Palermo and Juventus.

To see European giants like Juve linking up with Maidenhead United and Barnton because of this campaign is amazing.

As always, it’s a huge team effort. We are a small team ourselves and this year have worked with the likes of The Premier League, Prostate Cancer UK, The FSA’s Fans for Diversity, and our new friends in both Italy and Spain among others, to be able to put the day together!

We can’t wait for Saturday and to see all those feel-good stories across the country.

Two Crises. One Community. #SaferTogether.

As an official partner, The Sports Circle is launching its #SaferTogether campaign with this year’s event —and the statistics make clear why it’s badly needed.

As I’ve previously discussed in this column, at least 12 young people in the UK die every week from undiagnosed heart conditions, many with no previous symptoms, and playing sport can be a trigger.

Also alarming is around 5,300 men die by suicide in the UK each year and it is the single largest cause of death for men under 50 —tragic events that are very worthy of our attention.

I set up The Sports Circle to use sport and exercise as a medium to create healthier communities, including by improving individual physical and mental health.

Our #SaferTogether campaign enables us to provide meaningful, support to Non-League clubs who want to deliver to their communities.

Movement

Working with companies including Vitality, HSF, MIAL Healthcare, Isokinetic London, Sports Interactive, Powerleague, Myzone, and Cream Financial Services, we’ve built infrastructure that makes our foundational membership —The Support Circle —completely FREE to all.

Everyone who joins receives access to CircleCare: 24/7 telephone mental health support for the whole family, up to six face-to-face counselling sessions, and a pathway that reduces or fully covers the cost of a cardiac screen. Direct action on both crises we’re leading with.

Consider this our investment in you —but we need at least 1,000 members to deliver it. Every registration isn’t just a sign-up. It’s an act of collective protection.

This is what #Safer-Together means. It’s not a hashtag. It’s a movement that needs 1,000 people to get started.

No subscription. No barrier. No reason not to. Register at thesportscircle.co.uk — and be one of the 1,000.