Prince William has launched a new nationwide toolkit called On Your Side, calling on sport at every level—from grassroots clubs to elite football—to embed suicide prevention into daily practice. The initiative aims to give coaches, players and administrators practical guidance for spotting warning signs and supporting mental health within sporting communities.
What Is the On Your Side Toolkit?
The toolkit is designed as a practical resource that sports organisations can adopt regardless of size or level, offering guidance on recognising distress, starting conversations about mental health, and creating environments where players and staff feel comfortable seeking help. Prince William, who has long championed mental health causes through his charitable work, positioned the launch as an effort to shift suicide prevention from an occasional initiative into a routine part of sport’s culture.
Sport has the power to reach people who might not otherwise ask for help, and that reach comes with responsibility, organisers of the initiative said.
Why Is Football Central to This Campaign?
Football’s scale and social influence make it a key focus, given the sport’s presence in communities across the country and its ability to engage men in particular, a group statistically at higher risk of suicide. By encouraging football clubs, from professional academies to amateur leagues, to adopt the toolkit, organisers hope to normalise conversations about mental wellbeing among players, coaching staff and supporters alike.
What Happens Next?
Sporting bodies are being encouraged to integrate the toolkit’s guidance into existing welfare and safeguarding structures rather than treating it as a standalone campaign. The rollout is intended to reach clubs nationwide, with the ambition that suicide prevention becomes as embedded in sporting culture as physical safety and anti-discrimination measures already are.
