A Salford Red Devils fan has lost over three stone in weight in just a few months thanks to our new fitness app designed for sports fans and now he’s looking to tackle the London marathon.
Fan Fit is a project from the University of Salford which allows apps to be created for organisations such as sports clubs. The app contains club information, social media feeds, records walking and running to allow fans to create a friendly competition with prizes up for grabs. Salford Red Devils Rugby League Club were the first club to sign-up to be partners for the app and our fans have been competing with each other for the past few months, offering up some incredible results.
Salford Red Devils fan Russell Chesters won himself a 2019 Season Ticket via the December competition after amounting almost one million steps and losing weight as a result.
Russell Chesters said: “I was trying to get fitter anyway, then I heard about the app. It has really helped with getting me motivated. I’ve lost close to three stone since I signed up and I did just short of a million steps in a month. I’m really competitive so it has really helped me to get motivated as the competition element really helps me.
“Every fan should have it. I’m doing the London marathon later this year and this app is helping me get ready for it.”
Fellow fan Dean Midgely won the January competition after losing half-a-stone.
Dean Midgely said: “I wanted to get fit and I’m very competitive, so I thought let’s go for it. It’s really worked for me.”
In total – since the app launched – over 600 fans have downloaded and signed up totalling around 200 million steps in total. The North West, as a whole, recently came near the bottom of the league tables for health and fitness; with rates of heart disease and stroke among the highest in the country. Sports clubs in the region believe they could be doing more to combat this, as a duty of care to their fans and Fan Fit could play a huge part in that.
Dr Alex Fenton, project lead of Fan Fit, from the University of Salford Business School, said: “It’s been received really well by Salford Red Devils fans so far and it makes me really proud that a University project has made a difference to people’s lives in this way, hearing all these stories just makes it worthwhile. We will learn from this and keep improving the app to make it even more engaging and getting fans to think a bit more about their fitness.”
As well as the fitness tracker, step leagues and digital badges, the app provides video, social and news feeds so fans can keep in touch with the latest club news while keeping fit at the same time.
Director of Rugby and Operations, Ian Blease, said: “It is great that so many fans have signed up this app and are doing such a huge amount of exercise. Congratulations to all the winners so far. A lot of fans from all clubs and sports just come to matches, maybe after being in the pub, and watch athletes run around the pitch without doing any exercise themselves.
“At Salford Red Devils, we want to try to change that and this could be one great way of doing just that. If we can get more fans to become more active thanks to this app then it will be worthwhile.”
Salford Red Devils are encouraging our fans to get involved. All that is needed is a smartphone, either Android or iOS.
You can download Salford Red Devils Fan Fit now on Android or iPhone by clicking HERE.
Any other Club that wants to sign-up to Fan Fit and help their supporters shed a few pounds should contact Dr Alex Fenton at a.fenton@salford.ac.uk.
Watch the video from the Salford University Takeover Day below:
Tag: Takeover Day
Salford University will host ‘Takeover Day’ against St Helens
Salford Red Devils and Salford University have teamed up in a brand-new partnership which will give students the opportunity for both parties to share expertise and give students unique and beneficial experiences.
As a key component of the partnership, Salford University will stage a ‘Takeover Day’ at the St Helens fixture on Thursday 28th February. Students and staff from the University have been given discounted tickets as part of the event.
Prior to the game, students from Salford University’s Shock Radio will build the atmosphere at the The Salford Stadium, they will also provide live commentary and post-match player interviews. There will also be a reaction challenge game co-ordinated by the staff from the sports exercise team at the University.
Salford University Journalism students will be assisting with official matchday communications and operations. The University’s band will entertain fans pre-game in the marquee and there will be a crossbar challenge at half-time between Salford Red Devils supporters and the University’s Rugby League team.
As part of the longer-term partnership, Salford University have taken pride of place across the back of the 2019 shorts as an official kit sponsor while a member of the Salford Business School will sit on the Club’s Board of Directors.
Salford University and the Red Devils have already worked together on a number of projects including the ‘Fan Fit’ app which tracks the number of steps and activity Salford fans do over each month as well as taking feed directly from the Club’s official website, social media and Youtube channels. Salford Red Devils also held their annual media day at the University’s MediaCity UK Journalism campus in January.
Jennifer Hinsley, Operations Manager at the University of Salford Business School, said: “This is a very exciting partnership for the University, which will give a huge range of our students the chance to experience Rugby League, whether that is just as a fan or actually getting involved in helping to run a matchday. It is a big part of our strategy to give our students real world experience in this partnership is a key part of that.”
Salford Red Devils Director, Paul King, said: “To have a strong working relationship with Salford University is fantastic and this ‘Takeover Day’ is the perfect opportunity for us to display this wonderful partnership. This day will allow a number of the Universities students get involved with a gameday whether that be offering assistance to the operations, entertainment or just coming and experiencing their first-ever Rugby League game.
“We’ve been working really hard on improving the matchday experience at the The Salford Stadium and offering a partner such as Salford University a ‘Takeover Day’ will only help us with this and I’m hoping all the students and staff of Salford University as well as the Salford Red Devils fans support the occasion.”
For students looking to purchase tickets for the upcoming game against St Helens, please contact M.Ahmed42@salford.ac.uk.
