University of Salford Cricket club have raised hundreds of pounds for charities by growing moustaches doing ‘Movember’.
The students taking part have raised £500 already for three charities close to heart and have thanked all those who have shown their support.
Organiser William Rajan, from Salford University, said: “We thought it would be a great way to raise some money for charities close to home.
“Instead of doing an ordinary moustache we thought we’d do a Mitchell Johnson one because he’s a big cricket icon.”
The Movember initiative started 15 years ago as a way to raise awareness of men’s health issues and to raise money through donations to charities on behalf of those taking part.
Save9Lives is a campaign very close to the Club Chairman’s heart which aims to highlight and raise awareness around the importance of organ donation.
Will said: “Organ donation has got quite a lot of awareness now and I think this new opt out system coming in next year is great but I still think it’s worth having people supporting the campaign so people can go out and talk about it”
Chance to Shine is a charity focuses on giving more children the opportunity to play cricket nationwide, while Mind is a charity which supports people with mental health problems and helps to tackle stigmas surrounding it.
A study by Edge Hill university found that 51 per cent of men involved in sport had experienced mental illness.
The report, which examined the responses of more than 1200 people aged 16 and over who engage in sport, exercise and physical activity on a regular basis, found that current mental illness was highest in cricket at 60 per cent.
While exercise has a powerful and positive effect on mental health, evidence suggests that mental health is common across all levels of sport and physical activity.
Will said: ““Recently there’s been three Australian crickets recently who dropped out of the national side and cited that that it was mental health issues they were facing at the moment and they wanted to come out the side of it before the continue playing for their country”
“I think there needs to be far more awareness towards mental health in sport. Maybe in the last ten years attitudes have changed a little bit but I do think there needs to be far more awareness of it.”
As well as raising funds for these charities, the club hopes it can help raise awareness of issues men often don’t discuss around their health.
To show your support to the club you can donate here.
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