Portsmouth’s match against Oxford United marked the launch of our Premier League Inspires social action project, #PompeyGetTalking. Premier League Inspires is a personal development programme, developed by the Premier League and professional football clubs, and supported by the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA). The programme uses the power of football to inspire young people aged 11-18 at risk of not reaching their potential, to develop the personal skills and positive attitudes needed to succeed in life.

Led by the dedicated Premier League Inspires team, Joanna Flashman and Lovedeep Oliveira, four students from The Portsmouth Academy developed the campaign to foster ongoing conversations about mental wellbeing in our community.

Created by the students, the #PompeyGetTalking logo and tagline have been incorporated onto our matchday ball retriever bibs throughout the 2024-2025 season. Beyond this, we will collaborating with the students to design additional visuals and organise events that promote the campaign both at their school and in the wider community.

In addition, the group visited the training ground to pose their questions to players from both the men’s and women’s teams of Portsmouth Football Club, focusing on mental health strategies. This video was presented to our 20,000 fans on the big screen at Fratton Park for the Oxford United game and an article about #PompeyGetTalking was added to the matchday programme for maximum exposure.

A huge thank you to Portsmouth Football Club for their support in making this video.

Take a look at the Premier League Inspires video below and share far and wide to help our Premier League Inspires students make a positive impact with #PompeyGetTalking.

#WorldMentalHealthDay #PLMoreThanAGame #PremierLeagueInspires