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The Blow the Whistle campaign, aimed at raising awareness of a rise in domestic abuse during major football tournaments, has raised £670 locally in under a month as interest in the World Cup grows.

High profile political figures and sports personalities have backed the campaign as the local Blow the Whistle team spreads the message that ‘no score line justifies abuse’.

The local campaign and fundraiser was launched on November 1 by a group of students at the University of Sheffield.

Supporting Blow the Whistle, the Mayor Of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, said “It’s incredibly important and not just right now. It’s something we need to maintain a focus on, going forwards until that problem is challenged and tackled at its root cause and that’s going to be generational.”

A local Blow the Whistle campaign group is spreading awareness of the increase in domestic abuse incidents during major football tournaments

The campaign has discovered that during the 2018 World Cup, South Yorkshire saw a 1,488 per cent increase in domestic assaults causing injury.

Having worked in Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Sheffield, the campaign has reached a multitude of communities during its mission to spread awareness of the correlation between major football tournaments and domestic abuse.

High profile supporters of the campaign include, former Huddersfield town goalkeeper and BBC Radio Leeds presenter Matthew Glennon, Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones and Championship football team Huddersfield Town.

Matthew Glennon, said: “It’s a nationwide problem. It’s a very small minority who act out – but even one is too many. The relationship between domestic violence and football needs to be discussed and people need to be aware of what they can do to combat it.”

The Blow the Whistle team took its fundraising efforts to Hillsborough Stadium earlier this month, raising over £400 at Sheffield Wednesday’s match against Shrewsbury Town and handing out over 100 flyers to raise awareness of domestic violence services that are available.

All funds raised will go towards the Young Women's Christian Association refuge centre in Sheffield. It will be used to build a new wellbeing centre for the residents.

You can donate money here.

Keep up to date with the Blow the Whistle campaign by following the progress on Instagram @blowthewhistle_sy.

Blow the Whistle campaign in Sheffield gains momentum as World Cup kicks off