Today marks the start of the English Football League’s (EFL) annual Week of Action (6 – 10 November) where all 72 member Clubs unite to highlight the impact they have on their communities as a collective.
Across the week, managers and players including Pompey’s John Mousinho, Saint’s striker Che Adams, and Wrexham’s Paul Mullin will be out in their local areas meeting participants and getting involved in the life-changing community activities their Club’s deliver through their Club Community Organisations (CCOs). Almost 48,500 appearances have been made by EFL players over the last three seasons.
EFL Clubs support hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people all year round, with the demand continuing to rise from challenges including the current cost of living crisis. As evidenced in the EFL’s most recent community impact report, more than 840,000 participants engaged in EFL Club community activities over almost 580,000 hours during across the season. In the same period EFL Clubs delivered over £865m worth of social value to towns and cities across the country and generated more than £101m for community investment.
The 2023/24 Week of Action will see appearances including:
• Wrexham AFC’s Paul Mullin will meet participants from the Club’s holiday camp designed specifically for primary and secondary school-aged children with autism
• Blackpool players helping out with a foodbank collection at the stadium which provides 50 food parcels each week to the local community
• Carlisle’s manager Paul Simpson will take part in a Q&A session during the Club’s Veteran’s Breakfast event
• Portsmouth’s John Mousinho will demonstrate his culinary skills while getting involved in a youth cooking session at Pompey’s Blue’s Kitchen
• Southampton striker, Che Adams, will be taking part in an Active Through Football session with refugees living in the community
• Conor Chaplin will meet with Ipswich Town’s official LGBTQ+ supporters group
• Bristol Rovers first team squad will visit participants from the Club’s mental health programme, Rebound Rovers, during a tour of the training ground
• To mark the 15th birthday of QPR’s down’s syndrome team, Tiger Cubs, players have been invited to meet the new manager and first team at the training ground where they’ll take part in a skills session
Trevor Birch, CEO of the EFL, said: “The EFL is about two things – great football competitions and supporting communities 365 days a year – and our annual Week of Action highlights so clearly the strength and breadth of the community work clubs deliver.
“Every week players and managers across the League take time away from the training pitch to get actively involved in their Clubs’ community work, acting as role models and inspiring the next generation. Through the Week of Action campaign, we’re able to give Club community work the prolife it deserves, sharing the remarkable stories of those whose lives have been changed, and in some cases, saved through the work of their local Club.”
Cathy Abraham, CEO of the EFL Trust, said: “We’re immensely proud of the ground-breaking work our Clubs and Club Community Organisations provide, and the unique ability of the network are supported to deliver local impact on a national scale. The investment Clubs make in their communities through these programmes is testament to the value they bring to people’s lives.”
