Darlington Football Club supports “On the Ball”.

Darlington FC and Darlington Rugby FC have teamed up with ‘On the Ball’ to provide free sanitary products for female fans at Blackwell Meadows, beginning with Saturday’s Vanarama National League North game against Boston United.

Darlington FC will be providing female fans with free sanitary products at Blackwell Meadows -- the products will be available in all female toilets throughout the rest of the season.

The On the Ball campaign was introduced to increase the visibility of female football fans. It was initially launched in Scotland by Orlaith, Erin and Mikaela, three Celtic supporters who led a successful grassroots drive to introduce free sanitary products at their club before taking the next step to inspire others to do the same.

The list of clubs backing the campaign continues to grow, with teams from up and down the football pyramid.

John Tempest, DFC Director, said:  "We are delighted to become the latest club to sign up to this great initiative and make the match day experience better for our female fans.

“One in 10 girls are unable to afford sanitary products and nearly half (48 per cent) of girls aged 14-21 in the UK are embarrassed by their periods, so by providing these products free of charge we hope to make the match day experience the best it can possibly be for our female supporters.

“Whilst we have a good stock to kick-start this programme, we will be creating a collection point at the ground where supporters can donate sanitary products throughout the rest of the season.”

You can find out more about the campaign and follow their journey by following them on Twitter @OnTheBaw

The following statistics, from girls’ rights charity Plan International UK, are the only current UK-wide quantitative estimate of the extent of period poverty in the UK.

• One in ten girls (10 per cent) have been unable to afford sanitary wear
• One in seven girls (15 per cent) have struggled to afford sanitary wear
• One in seven girls (14 per cent) have had to ask to borrow sanitary wear from a friend due to affordability issues
• More than one in ten girls (12 per cent) has had to improvise sanitary wear due to affordability issues
• One in five (19%) of girls have changed to a less suitable sanitary product due to cost