In the world of football dressing rooms you won’t often find serious health issues talked about however that unfortunate trend could all be about to change.

Scottish TV and radio presenter Grant Stott last week joined a group of amateur footballers to launch a unique partnership highlighting prostate cancer.

Linlithgow Rose Community Football Club Amateurs have partnered with Prostate Scotland and will display the charity's logo and slogan ‘awful dribbling’ on their home and away shorts for the season ahead.

Nearly one in two men in Scotland will be affected by prostate disease at some stage of their lives and one in 11 is likely to develop prostate cancer.

On average approximately 3000 men are newly diagnosed and almost 1000 men die each year from the disease in Scotland. Early diagnosis is crucial and the partnership is aimed at increasing awareness to help achieve this.

As an ambassador for Prostate Scotland, Grant Stott believes the partnership is a great way to highlight the disease to an often hard to reach group.

He said: “It’s great to see this partnership being formed and it’s a great idea from the club.

"Hopefully it will help to get the message out there about prostate cancer and its symptoms to us men folk who often don’t want to listen or may not have had access to information.

“It is a real bonus that the club is interested in people of all ages and that women’s football also thrives as part of the community club – that means they too can exert even more influence and break down resistance to talking about prostate disease and prostate cancer -as well as stimulating people into taking action. In this case “Careful Talk Saves Lives” – so please keep on talking.”

Representing 20 per cent of all male cancers prostate cancer is the commonest form of the disease in men across Scotland and that prompted the Rose to get involved in raising its profile.

David Ridd, Captain of Linlithgow Rose Community FC Amateurs said: “We like to think of ourselves as an innovative club and when the idea of this partnership was first talked about it’s something we felt could be really different and hopefully very beneficial.

“Some of our players have been indirectly affected by cancer and we wanted to do something to publicise the symptoms and causes of this awful disease more widely.

“We hope that by having the Prostate Scotland logo on our shorts and other marketing materials around the club, it will bring it to the attention of our team and those we play against. We have already done some fundraising and have more planned. We also hope to arrange a celebrity football match in Linlithgow at the end of the season.”

Prostate Scotland is a Scottish charity set up to provide information, advice and help on prostate health and diseases of the prostate.

Professor Alan McNeill, consultant urologist and a founding Trustee of Prostate Scotland said: “When we heard about this proposal we were delighted to take it forward with the club.

“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in Scotland and the more men who are aware of their prostate, what to look out for and how to seek help, the greater the numbers of those who can be treated.”