Gareth Thomas CBE and the Tackle HIV Campaign will roll into Manchester on Saturday as the former Lions skipper attends a Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 fanzone in Manchester to help raise awareness.
The 51-year-old former Wales international will be in Piccadilly Gardens, mixing with fans and taking in World Cup fixtures, between 11am to 4pm, during which both Wales’ clash with Canada and Scotland’s encounter with Fiji will take place.
Thomas will be hosting a hand-eye coordination passing game as an opportunity to engage with fans and normalise conversations about HIV.
2025 is a golden year for women across several UK sports; the Lionesses won the football European Championships, and England host the Women’s Rugby World Cup, where the Red Roses are the favourites to win the tournament.
But in wider society there continue to be challenges for women, including discrimination, stigma and lack of opportunities, including in health, education & awareness.
In HIV, myths continue to persist that contribute to stigma and discrimination; despite women making up one third of all HIV cases in the UK and 54% worldwide, it is still widely believed that only gay men can get HIV.
Thomas wants to change people’s views on HIV and sees the opportunity to speak to people during the Women’s Rugby World Cup as a great chance to make women aware too.
“I’m really excited to be going to the fanzone and speaking to people,” said Thomas. “HIV isn’t a virus that solely affects gay and bisexual men.
“We feel sport is a great opportunity to ignite and start conversations. It brings a diverse group of people together and we’ve got a good rugby-based activity set-up in the fan zone where we can hopefully engage with a real diverse group of people.
“Our aim is to give people the information that can benefit or empower them to be able to support and help somebody else in their life.”
Thomas attended fanzones during the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup in France and hopes that by creating an inviting and enjoyable atmosphere in Manchester tomorrow, it will help people relax and open up more on what can be a difficult topic for some.
Sport, and physical activity, have the power to bring about positive social change for individuals and communities.
The Tackle HIV campaign, founded by Thomas and ViiV Healthcare in 2020, with the Terrence Higgins Trust supporting as the charity partner, is an example of where the power of sport can help bring about public education, understanding, and social change.
He continued: “For us to come to an environment that’s outside of the box for HIV, it helps break down barriers for people. This is usually a topic that isn’t much spoken about or spoken about behind closed doors.
“This type of thing helps break down the stigma attached to HIV. We went to the men’s World Cup, and we spoke to people from all different walks of life, and we found the relaxed environment helped. People didn’t feel a pressure on them, and they didn’t feel judged.
“As a campaign, we need to reach out to all different parts of society and sometimes that’s uncomfortable. We need to get this message to people and events like this empower people to come to us and talk about it.”
A survey for the Tackle HIV campaign showed that approximately a third of people don’t think heterosexual men (32%) or heterosexual women (34%) can get HIV.
In fact, in England, more heterosexual people are now diagnosed with HIV than homosexual people.
The survey also revealed that 41% of people think you can’t get HIV from only having sex with one person one time and that nearly half of people wouldn’t test as they don’t think they are at risk.
Advances in science and medicine mean that someone living with HIV on effective treatment cannot pass it on through sexual contact yet fewer than 1 in 5 (19%) people know this. Misunderstandings like this led to stigma and discrimination.
Thomas is delighted to be able to play a part in what he describes as a “great celebration of female sport” and thanked the tournament organisers for giving him a platform to speak to fans.
He added: “[The fanzone tomorrow] is a great opportunity for everybody to see the importance of sport and the unity it can bring. When we started this campaign, it was important we showed the diverse characteristics of people that are affected by HIV.
“Women’s role models are being created now which is fantastic and some of the rugby players playing at this tournament will become iconic.
“But as much as success is a great thing for any sporting team, I think what’s important about the success of women’s sport now is the legacy that it leaves to the younger generations and to younger girls. That legacy is sport is something that is for everybody.
“To be a small part of this great celebration of female sport is an honour and it’s great the Rugby World Cup have allowed us to do this, it’s a really big opportunity for us.”
The Tackle HIV campaign is attending the Women’s Rugby World Cup Fanzone in Manchester. Tackle HIV is a campaign led by Gareth Thomas in partnership with ViiV Healthcare, with Terrence Higgins Trust as the charity partner, which aims to tackle the stigma and misunderstanding around HIV. For more information visit tacklehiv.org and follow @tacklehiv.
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