TWO of a town's sport clubs have signed up to a new campaign to help tackle period poverty.

Darlington Football Club and Darlington RFC teamed up with the 'On the Ball' campaign to provide free sanitary products for female fans at their shared Blackwell Meadows ground in the town.

The campaign was kicked off at Darlington's Vanarama National League North home game against Boston United at the weekend.

Free sanitary products were handed out by Darlington FC to female fans.

And the products will 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 three female 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.”

For more information about the campaign follow @OnTheBaw on Twitter.

Girls' rights charity Plan International UK pulled together statistics which are the only current UK-wide estimate of the extent of period poverty in the UK, which show that:

*One in ten girls have been unable to afford sanitary wear;

*One in seven girls have struggled to afford sanitary wear;

*One in seven girls have had to ask to borrow sanitary wear from a friend due to affordability issues;

*More than one in ten girls have had to improvise sanitary wear due to affordability issues;

*One in five girls have changed to a less suitable sanitary product due to cost.

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman, who attended the game, said: "It's great to see that Darlington FC and RFC have decided to take part in this initiative. It would be amazing if we could see this in every football and rugby ground and at... public buildings and schools and really put an end to period poverty."