Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks has joined forces with similar organisations from other clubs to call for an end to poverty chanting ahead of their first collection of the season prior to Saturday’s season opener at home to Liverpool.
The organisation was born out of the idea that football fans can come together, regardless of club allegiance, to support those less fortunate.
It is one of the 40-plus teams across the English footballing pyramid that followed on from the Fans Supporting Foodbanks initiative that Liverpool and Everton fans launched in 2015.
The national campaign is run under the premise of Hunger Doesn't Wear Club Colours - it doesn't have a race or a religion, it doesn't have a creed, it doesn't have a gender.
As the Blues make a triumphant return to the Premier League after 22 years away, Ipswich Town Fans Supporting Foodbanks has doubled down on it efforts to tackle food poverty in Suffolk and across the country.
The fan-led group aims to continue their work in breaking the stigma surrounding deprivation and ask Town fans to work with them to defend our community from the scourge of food poverty and support others to do the same in theirs.
Merseyside clubs are disproportionately targeted by cruel and ill-informed ‘poverty chanting’ from opposition fans - with taunts of "sign on” and "feed the Scousers” frequently heard across the terraces.
Spokesperson and organiser of the Ipswich Town group, Elijah Aldridge said: ”We all know that hunger doesn’t wear club colours, just as we know that hunger isn’t exclusive to one region of the UK.
"Over a third of children in Ipswich are living in poverty with more than a million people below the poverty line across the East of England.
"Our group hopes that Town fans will continue the unbelievably positive support off the pitch, focussing on the pride in our club rather than prejudice against others.”
Liverpool West Derby MP and Fans Supporting Foodbanks co-founder Ian Byrne echoed the Ipswich group’s message: "Poverty doesn’t care what team you support and any collective problem requires a collective solution.
"By leaving poverty chanting in the past, football fans can continue moving forward and organising in their communities for a right to food.”
Over the last two seasons, Town fans have come together to donate nearly 150 full crates of donations and have raised over £12,000 for the Ipswich food bank FIND.
On Saturday, supporters of both clubs will have the opportunity to donate food items in the club’s FanZone and by the Sir Bobby Robson statue on the Portman Road for FIND from 9.30am until midday.
Examples of items to donate:
In demand:
● Tinned carrots, peas and sweetcorn
● Tinned fruit
● Rice pudding
● Long grain rice
General asks:
● Tinned tomatoes
● Instant mashed potatoes
● Toiletries
● Warm clothes
● Ready meals
● Cereals (Weetabix, Kelloggs variety packs)
ITFC Fans Supporting Foodbanks has released their collection calendar for the season.
17 Aug Liverpool
28 Sep Aston Villa
19 Oct Everton
23 Nov Manchester United
21 Dec Newcastle
United
18 Jan Manchester City
22 Feb Tottenham Hotspur
15 March Nottingham Forest
19 April Arsenal
25 May West Ham