Jimmy Carr used to tell a joke about being stopped in the street by one of those clipboard-wielding charity muggers who asked him if he could spare her a minute for cancer research. “All right,” replied the comedian. “But I don’t think we’ll get much done.” Over the weekend, in collaboration with Public Health England’s Every Mind Matters and the Heads Up campaign, the Football Association asked all those – fans, players, backroom staff – at football grounds to set aside the same amount of time in order to “Take A Minute” to think about or discuss looking after their mental health. While the good achieved by the initiative is impossible to gauge, it was almost certainly a worthwhile and beneficial endeavour.
Traditionalists who have bemoaned the paucity of third round games that kick off at three o’clock on a Saturday afternoon in recent years may well have rolled their eyes upon first discovering there were none whatsoever in this year’s calendar. In the interests of promoting mental health awareness, all FA Cup matches kicked off 60 seconds after their more customary TV time slots, prompting double takes and puzzlement in the build-up. Already, the FA had got people talking. As a sports governing body they are much maligned and often with good reason, but on this occasion they deserve no little praise for getting fully behind what is difficult to see as anything other than a very good idea.
Related: ‘It gave me a sense of normality’: how football helps men with mental health
With more players feeling able to admit they can't cope, it's natural that those who pay to watch them might follow suit
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