Live football matches are set to be prescribed to patients experiencing depression under a pioneering new scheme.
The initiative, developed by Labour MP Dr Simon Opher and Ecotricity owner Dale Vince, will offer patients at surgeries across Gloucestershire the opportunity to attend games at National League side Forest Green Rovers, a club Mr Vince has owned since 2010.
Dr Opher, a former GP and now the MP for Stroud, has championed social prescribing as an alternative to antidepressants for individuals with mild or moderate depression.
His previous prescriptions have included activities such as comedy and gardening.
Dr Opher stated that, on average, around four out of five patients tend to stick with these prescribed activities, highlighting that one of the main benefits is tackling loneliness.
Dr Opher told the PA news agency: “I do think there’s something about watching football which does give you a sense of community.
“I think one of the biggest problems in our society is social isolation.
“It’s really quite toxic, actually, and it’s created in the modern world by social media.
“Pubs aren’t so popular, we don’t get out as much, we don’t live in extended families, so that is very bad for you.
“You can quantify it, it’s the same health risk as smoking about 20 cigarettes a day. It’s really bad.
“One of the things here is just getting people out and socialising.”
He added: “Football isn’t going to be for everyone. Nothing is, but we need a range of options.
“Football is about socialising and roaring on your team, getting excited, taking yourself out of your own life for a short while, and living through something else.”
Dr Opher has previously spoken about his concerns on the over prescription of antidepressants.
He said he does not believe they should be given to patients if they have moderate or mild symptoms.
The number of people of antidepressants rose by 2.1% last year, compared to 2022/23.
He said: “If you’ve got severe depression then I would always recommend antidepressants, but a large majority of people have got what they call mild to moderate depression, and the tendency at the moment is to give them tablets, because there’s no mental health support really, it can take six months to get it, and you feel like you need to do something.
“That’s why we’ve got to a stage where we’ve got 8.7 million people on antidepressants, so we need to try something else.”
Patients at a dozen surgeries in the county near Forest Green’s The New Lawn ground in Nailsworth will be given the chance to be referred to go to a game.
The initiative is planned to run for the whole season, beginning with the side’s first home game against Yeovil Town on August 16.
The tickets are being donated for free by Forest Green.
There’s no guarantee action on the pitch will lift the spirits of depression sufferers, as Forest Green suffered penalty heartbreak in the playoffs last season, losing to Southend.
Mr Vince bought the club in 2010, and has since turned them into the world’s first vegan, and carbon-neutral football club.
Under his ownership the long-time non-league club reached League One, before suffering two back-to-back relegations.
Mr Vince is best known for founding green energy company Ecotricity. It has previously donated £1 million to the Labour Party.
He said: “I think it’d be a great thing if football clubs up and down the country could reach out to people and do this.
“Men typically don’t really talk about their issues, that’s the thing, and you get loneliness and things like that as well.
“In my life I’ve had periods of my life where I’ve been a bit fed up, and excluded … a bit down from time to time, it’s easy to spiral downwards when you’re not in contact with people and I just wanted to do something with that.”
He added: “Forest Green has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I’m keen to share that.”
Dr Opher’s scepticism towards widespread antidepressant prescription came after he began his career as a GP in 1995.
“I’d started seeing there’s a lot of people depressed out there, a lot of people with low mood, so I started putting a lot of them on antidepressants or referring them to mental health,” he said.
“Quite a few of them, one in four, maybe even more, would just come back no better, but with intractable problems.
“What I realised is that tablets didn’t help them, we had nothing to help them.
“I thought we needed to try something different and do a different behaviour.”
He added: “For the people it did work for, it was transformative, and also they got onto the next thing, they stopped coming to see me, which is a great sign.”
