Manchester United have got it right where Jaguar rebrand got it wrong

Manchester United are showing Jaguar that inclusivity is about doing, not just showing, through their action on prostate cancer, writes Matthew Fletcher-Jones.

It’s been a good week or so for football. Promotion for England and Wales in the Nations League (a format innovation that actually works), a Premier League weekend with the champions in ‘crisis’, Manchester United revealing a new manager, and the ‘Slot Machine’ paying out again in Europe. 

Football keeps on coming with its never-ending narratives and content. And we can’t get enough, every day online, on TV and even in real life for those hundreds of thousands who go to matches every week.

Matchday attendances in England remain strong, even at a time when some of the powers that be (let’s say those who want a European Super League) claim that the game’s future is an endless merry-go-round of big matches on TV which young people will consume in bite-sized chunks on YouTube. 

Other powers that be (let’s call them schedulers of fixtures for TV) already act like the in-stadia fan is an afterthought. The TV pound may be king, but those clubs that still prioritise matchgoing fans will remain a step ahead when it comes to positive PR and inclusivity. 

This week I was part of an announcement between phs Group UK, Prostate Cancer UK and Manchester United, with arguably the world’s biggest club becoming the first in the Premier League to sign up to ‘The Bog Standard’. It’s a simple initiative with a potentially huge impact. Old Trafford now provides sanitary products and bins for men affected by prostate cancer. 

Why? One in eight men (rising to one in four black men) will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and those who have their prostate removed – like United fan Mark Farrington, featured in the announcement film – can suffer leakage, meaning that they often don’t want to leave the house, never mind go to a match with 70,000 others. 

You’re probably not aware of this. I certainly wasn’t until my father had his prostate removed after a cancer diagnosis and then received a mountain of sanitary product boxes from the NHS. Like many men his age, he never mentioned it again. Didn’t want to cause a fuss.

As part of the launch, phs Group UK and Prostate Cancer UK released a white paper titled Back In The Game, which explored the impact on fans and clubs of prostate cancer. Half of men affected go to fewer games, with 14 per cent not going at all. 

The average fan of one of the 92 clubs spends £80 every time they go to a match. So clubs that don’t provide these facilities are causing fans to miss matches, and football to miss out on millions.

The white paper, which is being discussed at an event in Parliament this week, concludes with nearly three quarters of the fans surveyed calling on their clubs to join The Bog Standard. 

Already the calls are coming in from other clubs keen to follow United’s lead as they understand the significance of the matchday experience to their fanbase and their community. 

The true impact of men affected by prostate cancer missing football matches is revealed by the finding that a third of men who no longer go to matches feel they have lost their identity and sense of being part of something. That’s what being a football fan is all about. 

Of course, last week two other campaigns also caught the headlines: Tottenham Hotspur’s rebrand, which appears to have gone down well with fans as they were part of the process, and Jaguar’s rebrand which doesn’t appear to have gone down well with anybody. Possibly because it used people who aren’t part of the brand to appeal to people who they want to be part of the brand. 

Jaguar was trying to show it was inclusive in order to sell cars with a six-figure price tag to new audiences. Football clubs joining The Bog Standard demonstrates that inclusivity isn’t about showing, it’s about doing.

Matthew Fletcher-Jones is a sports communications consultant.