Ongoing ‘Blood, Sweat and Cheers’ campaign celebrated by FAW for positive, community impact

The Football Association of Wales will present the Welsh Blood Service with a special recognition award this evening for its community partnership campaign ‘Blood, Sweat and Cheers’. Introduced 18 months ago, the campaign was created to encourage more supporters to donate in their local communities.

Partnering with the Football Association of Wales, the campaign is encouraging local clubs from the JD Cymru Leagues and Genero Adran Leagues to engage with their players, supporters and local communities, promoting the importance of giving blood and signing up football fans to save lives. Launched in 2020, the campaign was backed by former Wales midfielder Owain Tudur Jones and Wales forward Natasha Harding.

The award was presented in advance of the end of season awards evening to  Alan Prosser, Director of the Welsh Blood Service  by Sgorio and S4C football reporter, Sioned Dafydd, at our Headquarters in Talbot Green, Llantrisant.

Speaking about the campaign and award Rob Dowling, FAW Head of Content and Engagement said, “The JD Cymru Leagues and Genero Adran Leagues are incredibly proud of the Community Partnership with the Welsh Blood Service and in particular how the clubs have helped to save lives through the Blood Sweat and Cheers campaign.

“The Welsh Blood Service recognised the importance of the clubs within their communities to recruit donors and when they approached the FAW about a community partnership it was clear that this would be a powerful relationship.

“With enough blood donated through the clubs to save the lives of over 1,700 adults or 5,000 infants, the campaign has had an incredible impact. The Welsh Blood Service and the clubs in the JD Cymru Leagues and Genero Adran Leagues should be immensely proud of what has been achieved.

“This Special Recognition Award is a fitting way to honour the Welsh Blood Service and the clubs in this incredible Community Partnership that is genuinely helping people across the country.”

Director of the Welsh Blood Service Alan Prosser said, “We are absolutely thrilled our Blood, Sweat and Cheers community partnership has been recognised by the FAW with a special recognition award.

“Since launching in November 2020, the campaign has grown from strength to strength, and we are delighted now to be working with teams across Wales in both the JD Cymru Leagues and Genero Adran Leagues.

“Together, we’ve built a strong relationship with the clubs across the length and breadth of Wales.  The commitment and dedication to the campaign by those clubs, players, fans and local communities has been nothing short of inspirational.

“We have enjoyed a couple of laughs along the way with our  April Fools announcements but this hasn’t detracted from the importance of the campaign which is to inspire the community to consider joining the Welsh Blood Service’s lifesaving team by donating blood.

“You cannot put a price on the lifesaving difference those donations have made to the people they have helped. There’s still plenty to come from this partnership, but we’re thrilled with what we’ve been able to achieve on what is now an internationally recognised campaign.

“On behalf of all of us at the Welsh Blood Service, I just want to say a huge thank you to the FAW and all the clubs who have made this partnership such a fantastic success.”

Blood and its by-products play a vital role in saving lives each day, with donations helping accident victims, patients undergoing surgical procedures such as organ transplants, leukaemia and cancer patients, pregnant women and premature babies who cannot survive without a blood transfusion.

Find out how you can support us.

To help all these patients the Welsh Blood Service need to collect 350 blood donations a day to supply the 20 hospitals they service across Wales including the four Air Ambulance aircraft.

There’s never been a better time to become a blood donor, we have sessions in local communities throughout Wales so please take a look on our dedicated campaign page on our website for further information or to book a lifesaving appointment. The page allows fans from clubs across Wales to click on their club’s emblem and view a list of upcoming donation centres local to them.

Why not support your local club in a different way and consider joining our Blood Sweat and Cheers campaign today – www.wbs.wales/football