Matthew Philpott Managing Director, European Healthy Stadia Network CIC, Liverpool
Abstract
Whilst stands at sports stadia in the UK have been covered through smokefree legislation since 2007, there are still opportunities to reduce smoking prevalence through this setting. The Smokefree Squad pilot campaign, coordinated by the European Healthy Stadia Network and Heart of Mersey, has helped refer ‘hard to reach’ sports fans to local stop smoking services through a combination of smoking cessation brief intervention training for stadium staff, and a parallel social marketing campaign.
The project was piloted at two professional sports clubs, St Helens Rugby League Club and Lancashire County Cricket Club (June – September 2012). A bespoke brief intervention training package, informed through insight work with fans and staff, was delivered to club stewards and community coaches over a 90 minutes interactive session.
An overarching campaign identity - Smokefree Squad - and a range of educational campaign materials were developed, including fixtures z-cards, player statistic cards, text and QR alert. All social marketing and communications content contained motivational quit messages and contact details for local NHS Stop Smoking Services.
Results from the St Helens RFC setting were particularly strong: overall number of brief interventions achieved = 2058; number of overall referrals to stop smoking services = 77
Source of funding: Pilot project funded by Pfizer UK Ltd
