International Day of Older Persons

On the 1st of October, the world celebrates the International Day of Older Persons, an event that seeks to highlight the challenges of the elderly people in contemporary society.

After endorsing the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing, on the 14 of December 1990, the UN General Assembly declared the 1st of October as the International Day of Older Persons. This serves as recognition of the many difficulties that older people go through in the 21st century and to promote the development of a society for all ages.

As reported by the WHO, between 2017 and 2030 the number of people over the age of 60 is expected to grow from 962 million to 1.4 billion and while older people have always played roles as leaders in our society, they are still part of one of the most vulnerable groups, with many of them falling into poverty or facing discrimination.

On October 1st, we encourage our members to join us in the #Morethanfootball campaign and celebrate the International Day of Older Persons.

Here are some examples of initiatives you can carry out to promote the event:

• organise a walking football tournament
• organise social distanced dance classes
• where possible, provide care packages to elderly supporters who care for their grandchildren
• call elderly supporters who have recovered from Covid-19
• visit elderly supporters who live in nursing homes
• call season tickets holders who are over 65 years old of age.