HAVERFORDWEST County AFC is supporting a campaign to encourage football supporters to donate blood and help save lives, with donation centres being set up in Haverfordwest and Tenby.

The Welsh Blood Service has partnered with the FAW’s JD Cymru Leagues and Orchard Welsh Premier Women’s League to launch a brand-new campaign to encourage fans to donate blood.

Through its new ‘Blood, Sweat and Cheers’ campaign, the Bluebirds were pleased to help promote the importance of giving blood and encourage supporters to sign up for such a worthy cause.

“The club are delighted to support such an initiative,” said Haverfordwest County Media Officer Jordan Griffiths.

“The Welsh Blood Service carry out an important role, and anything the club can do to support this effort, we will always do.

“We have had a fantastic response to the posts on social media, and the Welsh Blood Service have told us that many people have signed up to donate blood thanks to this campaign."

Supporters and the wider community can sign up to donate blood at Haverfordwest Rugby Club on February 25 and 26, and March 25 and 26, or at Tenby Leisure Centre on 4 and 5 March.

Every single day the Welsh Blood Service needs to collect 350 blood donations to supply hospitals with enough blood for patients, and it is hoped that the 'Blood, Sweat and Cheers’ campaign will help the organisation achieve its goal of signing 11,000 new blood donors in 2021.

Blood and its by-products play a vital role in saving lives each day, with donations helping accident victims, patients having a kidney, liver or an organ transplant, pregnant women, leukaemia and cancer patients, those undergoing open heart surgery and premature babies.

With around 1,600 donation sessions at 400 different venues across Wales every year, there are plenty of opportunities for supporters to find their nearest session and make a difference.

Anyone aged between 17 and 66 can enrol online, and from start to finish, the process of donating takes just less than one hour, with the actual blood donation lasting only five to ten minutes.

For further information about these sessions or donating blood, visit wbs.wales/football.