Accrington Stanley football club has announced that it will be teaming up with a local health charity to offer free chlamydia tests to football fans after the match is over.

It’s notoriously difficult to get men, particularly young men, to visit their local GUM clinic to get an STD test. Accrington Stanley hopes that by launching the new initiative, the male-dominated atmosphere of the game may encourage the fans to get tested.

Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the UK. In many cases it is symptomless so often getting a chlamydia test is the only way people can discover they are infected. The infection can be easily cleared up with a course of antibiotics, but left untreated it can lead to infertility.

The chief executive of Accrington Stanley Rob Heys said that the move was a way for the club to give back to their local community. He commented, “The main stakeholders of the club are the supporters and the community so it is important we focus on giving back as much as we possibly can.”

Working with the NHS the sexual health charity b-sure is planning on handing out home chlamydia tests to supporters, but don’t intend to stop there. Once the match is over, they will be heading to popular supporter’s pub The Crown, which is near the grounds. They are hoping there to get more supporters to agree to take the chlamydia test.

Health officials have been baffled why women are more likely to get a sexual health test than men. A strong stigma still seems to be attached to visiting the GUM clinic, but even the launch of online GUM clinics and home chlamydia tests has not made as big a difference as was hoped.

It is estimated that 1 in 10 people under 25 are infected with chlamydia but despite advertising campaigns and offering free home chlamydia tests local health officials have been forced to get creative to meet their chlamydia test targets – hence this new initiative.

The football club has also got their youth academy involved in the project, with their young members learning about the dangers and consequences of unprotected sex.

Cody Jordan, Young Men’s Sexual Health Outreach Worker for the charity, said: “Working with the football club has had a tremendous effect so far because the audience it attracts are young men who may not access services as much as females.”

Local supporters seemed slightly less excited about the project, with one user on a local news comments board writing, “I thought Chlamydia was the name of the manager’s wife.”