The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Dundee and Dundee United fans Darren Thomson, Marty Smith, Liam Mckelvie and Daniel Gearie are putting their rivalry aside to tackle food poverty with a new charity initiative. Picture by Kim Cessford.
Dundee and Dundee United football fans are putting their rivalries aside to tackle food poverty with the launch of a charitable initiative.
Fans Supporting Foodbanks Dundee will be collecting food donations from supporters on big match days – starting on Saturday at Kilmarnock versus Dundee United.
The new group joins a network of fan-driven foodbanks across the UK, which stems from an antipoverty project founded by fans in Liverpool. It comes amid a cost-of-living crisis caused by spiralling food and energy prices.
Marty Smith, 31, from Dundee, is leading the project. He wants to show that football fans can come together, even if they back different teams, to support good causes.
He said: “Everyone is willing to set aside the rivalries between the two Dundee teams to tackle an issue which is going to become ever more present in the city over the next few months through the costof-living crisis.
“Our motto is: If you can, bring a can.
“Where else are you going to get 5,000 to 6,000 people in one place on a weekend?
“If even half of those brought a can, or some pasta, or some toiletries, it will be quite a big collection that we get.”
Mr Smith says fans have been hugely supportive of the new initiative.
More than a dozen Dundee and Dundee United supporters have already signed up to volunteer.
Mr Smith said: “We’ve got a network of people who are willing to give up their Saturday afternoons to come collect some food and talk about some of the issues around food poverty in our city.
“We’re excited to get started and we just want to do our bit to help our communities.”
Donations will be gathered at Dundee and Dundee United home league matches every weekend. Fans Supporting Foodbanks Dundee will set up a collection point outside the stadiums so that supporters can drop off donations before the game.
These will then be distributed to foodbanks across Dundee. Mr Smith, who works for Dundee Samaritans, said: “We will be alternating between foodbanks week-to-week.
“We’re not just focused on one area – we want to go right across the city and help the communities that are struggling.”
The Dundee group is a branch of Fans Supporting Foodbanks Scotland, which Mr Smith helped to launch earlier this month.
He started the initiative alongside football fans from Celtic, Partick Thistle and Kilmarnock.
It has been inspired by the original Fans Supporting Foodbanks organisation, set up in 2015, which saw Liverpool and Everton followers come together to show solidarity with those experiencing poverty.