Football group helps men lose 70 stone

A Bournemouth football group has helped 74 men lose more than 71 stone in a year.

The MAN v FAT Football programme brings together men with a BMI above 27.5 for weekly weigh-ins and 28 minute small-sided matches, where both weight loss and goals scored contribute to each team’s league position.

One player, 32-year-old Jack Dunne, joined in June 2025 and has since lost 5 stone, describing it as a “perfect win-win situation” that allowed him to return to football while improving his health.

He says the sessions are “competitive without being aggressive” and part of a supportive environment, where players encourage each other both on and off the pitch and celebrate personal milestones together.

The group meets every Friday at Two Riversmeet Leisure Complex, with players also receiving off-pitch support including healthy recipes, fitness advice and access to a mental health platform through programme partners.

One of the men who have seen the benefits of MAN v FAT Football Bournemouth is 32-year-old Jack Dunne, who has managed to lose five stone in less than a year with the programme. Jack first joined up with MAN v FAT in June 2025, seeing an opportunity to both drop some unwanted weight, and pick back up his love of football.

He explains: “I’ve always loved football and played ever since I was young. Unfortunately, my weight and health got to be a bit too much though and I had to give it up for a while. It was when I needed to have a BMI reading that was a major moment. My BMI was far too high, and I thought something’s got to change.

“I have a friend who had joined MAN v FAT the year before and who’s lost a ridiculous amount of weight. I remember seeing him for the first time in ages, and I didn’t recognise him. He told me about MAN v FAT, and I could see it was clearly working. It seemed like the perfect win-win situation: to be able to mix my love of football, and get back into playing it, with the need to lose weight.”

You can find out more about MAN v FAT here.