Paula Carroll^1,, Christopher McDermott¹, Aisling McGrath¹, Laura Finnegan², Tom Egan³, Michael Harrison¹, Noel Richardson⁴, Peter Krustrup^{5, 6}

Despite advances in health research, many evidence-informed interventions fail to translate into sustained real-world practice. The gap between research and implementation contributes to delayed impact, diminished reach, and persistent health inequities. Men, in particular, experience poorer health outcomes than women and remain under-served in health promotion and healthcare systems. Community-based approaches that prioritise accessibility, flexibility and peer connection are needed to more effectively reach this group. Recreational football (American soccer), especially informal “pick-up” formats, has emerged as a promising vehicle for engaging men in physical activity and improving wellbeing. The Football Cooperative (FC) initiative delivers volunteer-led recreational ‘pick up’ football games that are low-cost, inclusive, and locally embedded. At its two existing sites, it has demonstrated high levels of engagement, positive health and wellbeing outcomes, and strong social return on investment. The purpose of this paper is to detail the protocols used in developing an implementation strategy to replicate the FC initiative across multiple sites (n=12) in Q1 2026 with a view to supporting sustainable scale-up across Ireland and beyond from 2027. Using an ecological implementation design and multiple implementation science frameworks, stakeholders were engaged across four levels: participant, provider, organisational, and community/system both within and outside of the FC initiative. The ecological model guided sampling; the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) informed data collection and analysis; the PRACTical planning for Implementation and Scale-up (PRACTIS) supported analysis; and the Intervention Scalability Assessment Tool (ISAT) was used to assess readiness for scale. Data were gathered through ethnographic methods, semi-structured interviews, reflective logs, and focus groups across several Irish and European sites and a draft implementation strategy was developed, structured using the PRACTIS framework. A modified Delphi process with the FC initiatives Advisory Board was used to prioritise actions and refine the final implementation strategy. The resulting strategy is co-produced, theory-informed and tailored to the realities of scale-up in community sport and health promotion settings. By publishing this protocol, the study aims to contribute to the growing field of implementation science and to support others engaging in formative evaluation and translational planning.

Implementation Science, Men’s Health, Community Based, Soccer, Translation, Football