The independent charity have launched a new campaign to highlight rising violence against women and girls linked to major sporting events.
Statistics and reports from frontline services have drawn attention to an alarming trend: incidents of domestic abuse and gender-based violence are often higher around the time of significant sporting occasions.
To give context, police in England and Wales recorded 351 football related domestic abuse incidents during the Euros last year – almost double the figure from the previous tournament.
What’s more, separate findings show a link between alcohol-fuelled celebrates and violent incidents. On days when England won a football match, there was a 47% rise in domestic abuse crimes.
Against this backdrop, Lydia Patsalides, spokesperson for the charity Crimestoppers, said: ‘Sport should unite and inspire us, and for the most part it does. But we cannot ignore the well-documented rise in violence towards women and girls’.
With this in mind, the charity have launched a new campaign which encourages people to get in touch with their anonymous reporting service if they’re concerned about someone’s wellbeing.
The charity can be contacted via an anonymous form on their website or by phoning 0800 555 111.
Lydia added that violence which stems from sporting events ‘are not isolated incidents – they represent a national issue that affects communities across the UK.’
Going forward, Crimestoppers has also partnered up with sporting bodies, law enforcement agencies and other charities to spread awareness of the cause.
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