West Ham United fans will be among supporters across the country given plenty of food for thought this weekend thanks to a special Premier League-backed initiative.
The match at Blackburn Rovers will be used as part of a campaign to help highlight the plight of world hunger that also involves other top European leagues and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). More than 200 professional football clubs, 100 stadiums and millions of football fans will be involved in the first Europe-wide football weekend against hunger being held from 20 to 22 March.
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Aimed at raising awareness about the urgent need to fight hunger and poverty, exacerbated by the current economic crisis, funds raised during the football weekend will help to finance anti-hunger micro-projects around the world. The event follows on from the Professional Football against Hunger campaign launched on 15 October 2008 by FAO and Professional Football Leagues across Europe.
The Association of European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) is made up of 29 members leagues and associated members, comprising more than 900 professional football clubs across Europe.
The "Professional Football against Hunger" campaign is intended to raise awareness of the plight of the 963 million people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition and who do not have adequate access to food.
Sir Dave Richards, chairman of the Premier League, said: "The Premier League has a deservedly strong reputation for the amount of work we do off the pitch, both in England and in many countries around the world. We were therefore keen to lend our support to the 'Professional Football Against Hunger' campaign.
"I hope that we might highlight that football has the power to increase awareness, political will and financial resources to help address this extremely important issue."
The money raised in the campaign will serve to finance FAO TeleFood microprojects designed to provide immediate and lasting solutions to poor families and communities and enable them to produce their own food.
The micro-projects, funded to a maximum of €7,000 each, are used to finance tangible resources such as fishing equipment, seeds and agricultural implements. They vary enormously, from helping families raise pigs in Venezuela, through creating school gardens in Cape Verde and Mauritania or providing school lunches in Uganda and teaching children to grow food, to raising fish in India.