Gloucester City AFC and Quayside joined forces to make a stand against suicide through the game of football.

Businesses across the region were invited to take part in a 5-a-side tournament designed to create vital funds and raise awareness for the charity CALM. The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is leading a movement against suicide, the single biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK and the cause of 18 deaths every day.

The event was an opportunity to bring people together - friends, colleagues, and business associates. The day began with the draw conducted by Gloucester City Manager Lee Mansell. Alex of Quayside then did a short talk to the almost 200 attendees about his only personal experience of losing a friend to suicide and the importance of simply starting the conversation before the teams took to the fantastic TigerTurf pitch for a knockout style tournament. The winners of this then played in the semi-finals and finals later in the afternoon where Modern Heating of Gloucester took the first ever trophy.

A really important day for many who attended, a great community feel and a chance to share this important message. A special thank you to Gloucester City Football club and Jay Marriot for hosting and taking care of most of the organisation to make the day a success. We hope this one to be annual event, over £2,000.00 has been raised including matching by the St. James’ Place Charitable Foundation and we really hope that above all else, it will help those finding things difficult to start the conversation.