FA Cup fixtures delayed by a minute to raise awareness of mental health.

With a good gameweek ending with some thrilling encounters, it is now the FA Cup that will entertain all the Premier League fans this weekend. 

All the FA Cup third round ties will kick off one minute later than the usual time. The reason behind this is the ‘Heads Up’ campaign, which encourages fans to ‘Take a Minute’ to think about their mental health.

There are 32 fixtures in the round and all of them will be starting at bizarre-looking times, such as 7:31 pm, 8:31 pm, 9:31 pm,11:01 pm and 11:46 pm all being according to the IST (Indian Standard Time).

It is in the hope of leading fans around the world to make sure that their mental health is the most important thing. It is not only regarding their mental health but also of all the people around them. 

It is important that everyone takes out 60 seconds of their lives to think about their mental health and also help somebody who needs support.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said,” Whilst delaying kick-off times by 60 seconds is a simple idea, it provides a powerful platform for us and our 'Heads Up' charity partners to deliver a really important message on mental health.”

We know that men, in particular, can be reluctant to talk about the subject, so it is important that we use football as a vehicle to stress the importance of mental fitness. The Emirates FA Cup is a competition for everyone, for big clubs and small and we want to use its power to help show that we all have mental health and that we can all take a minute to focus on how we can start to improve it, "Godric Smith, chairman of the Heads Up campaign further added. 

Manchester vs Wolves and a Merseyside Derby are the eye-catching fixtures for the third round of the FA Cup. 

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