DURFC on their plans for Movember 2020

Movember 2020 is officially underway, and for DURFC, this marks an opportunity to surpass the impressively grand sum of £2716 they managed to raise for the charity last year. Movember, an annual event, sees the growing of moustaches during the month of November, in order to raise awareness of men’s health issues including prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide.

Whilst DURFC’s annual growing of taches is usually supplemented with a Movember charity match, this year’s attempts, although slightly different due to lockdown, are still going ahead in full force. We spoke with members of the club on their participation in this year’s event, in order to find out more about why they feel the cause is such an important one to get behind.

Who will be taking part in DURFC’s Movember plans for this year?

Dan Blackman, Club Captain for DURFC tells The Tab Durham: “Around 60 members of all teams from DURFC will be taking part in Movember. The club as a whole will be raising awareness of men’s health and raising money for Movember.”

Dan Blackman

Rhys Belcher adds: “We at the rugby club have been proud supporters of Movember for many years now. We consistently get large numbers of members joining in with the annual growing of a moustache. We were the best fundraising group in Durham last year and we want to continue this and raise even more than ever.”

How does DURFC normally mark the occasion, and how will plans look different for this year?

Rhys notes: “DURFC takes part annually in the tradition of growing a “Mo” as a way of fundraising for the charity. This year we have over 60 members of the club joining in, which promises a wide array of questionable facial hair. Normally in addition to this we would run other fundraising events in the month such as the Movember Charity Match which unfortunately is not going ahead due to the pandemic.

Rhys Belcher

“We will try our best to raise as much as possible in the circumstances, and will try and organise some alternative fundraisers in the coming month to beat our total last year which was an amazing £2,716.”

Why do you feel Movember is such an important cause to get behind?

Nat Wyman says: “Mental health is something that has affected us all in some way, whether personally or someone we know. I’m just glad I can pay some small part in raising awareness and money for such a great cause.”

Rhys adds: “The rugby club has over 150 current members and thousands of alumni all of whom are men who at one time in their lives will suffer, be it from mental or physical health issues.

“This is why every year we feel the responsibility to do our part in raising funds and awareness for issues that will impact our brothers on the pitch as well as our friends, fathers and family off the pitch. Movember is the leading men’s health charity and so our continued support is something that we believe can lead to a better future for men who need help.”

Are there any taches we should particularly watch out for?

Jamie Adamson warns: “Mr Fred Davies has been sporting a Movember moustache since 2018, so this is nothing new from him. It’s definitely worth looking out for Jack Hill’s progress over the month, if there is any.”

Jamie Adamson

How can we donate to the club’s fundraiser this year?

Matt Bargh tells us: “Our team page on the Movember page is the best place to donate. We know times are hard but anything you can give will go a long way to helping the charity make a difference to men who are suffering. Thank you.”

DURFC’s promotional video for this year’s Movember fundraiser can be found here.

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Photographs provided by DURFC. Featured image credit (background): Free To Use Sounds via Unsplash.