Glasgow City supports breast cancer partnership

Glasgow City’s Julie Melrose joined Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon to kick-off a new partnership between Scottish Women’s Football and the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer. The partnership –called One Goal - aims to raise awareness among women footballers and to the wider public about the signs and symptoms of breast cancer and to highlight the importance of exercise as way to reduce the risk of the disease.

Uniquely, much of the partnership will be delivered exclusively via Twitter as this is the most popular medium for followers of the women’s game in Scotland. Together both Breakthrough and Scottish Women’s Football will spread through social media important breast cancer messages on signs and symptoms, risk factors and exercise tips. 

Audrey Birt, Scotland Director at Breakthrough Breast Cancer said, ““We are really excited about this partnership as it will not only help promote breast awareness to women but also the value of exercise for improving your current physical health and longer term benefits such as reducing your risk of breast cancer.”

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said, ““We know that the earlier a cancer is diagnosed the greater the chance it can be treated successfully and that more lives can be saved in Scotland through earlier detection and better treatment. Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in Scotland, and that is why we are focusing on this cancer as part of the Scottish Government’s Detect Cancer Early drive.

“This new partnership between Breakthrough Breast Cancer and the Scottish Women’s Football Association is a great way of helping to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, while also highlighting how important exercise is in helping to reduce the risk of cancer.”

Maureen McGonigle, Executive Administrator at Scottish Women's Football said, “We are using social media as a key platform for this relationship because this is where women's football can create most interest - reaching players, clubs and volunteers alike.  Breakthrough will team up with our clubs and players on Twitter to communicate throughout the season important messages about breast cancer."

Glasgow City are delighted to back this very important cause and hope the whole of women’s football across Scotland can get behind the partnership.

Breakthrough in Scotland can be followed on Twitter @breakthroughsco and Scottish Women’s Football followed @ScotWFootball. The hashtag for the partnership is #onegoal.

To get involved or find out more, visit http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/scotland/one_goal.html

NOTES
Pictured from left to right are: Nicola Sturgeon MSP, Health Secretary; Audrey Birt, Scotland Director at Breakthrough Breast Cancer; and Julie Melrose, Glasgow City Football Club. Photograph taken by Philip McCloy.

  • Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Scotland. Nearly 4,500 women are diagnosed each year. Around 1,000 women die annually from the disease.

  • Detect Cancer Early is an ambitious programme of work to improve survival for people with cancer in Scotland to amongst the best in other European countries by diagnosing and treating the disease at an earlier stage. The £30m initiative aims to save more than 300 lives a year by the end of the next Parliamentary term.

  • Breakthrough Breast Cancer is dedicated to improving and saving lives through finding the causes of breast cancer, enabling early detection, ensuring precise diagnosis, discovering new and better treatments and improving medical services.  It established an office in Edinburgh in 2008 and also funds Scotland’s only dedicated breast cancer research unit at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

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