If you notice footballers wearing green armbands during Premier League, EFL and Women’s Super League matches on Saturday and Sunday, that is part of the Green Football Weekend – with certain clubs, players and supporters involved in the fight against climate change by reducing their environmental impacts.
BBC Sport is watching what’s going on.
Which players are affected?
Brentford defender Ben Mee has been a leading voice in the Premier League on these issues for some time, telling BBC Sport: “I’ve been interested in reducing my carbon footprint mainly by having kids and thinking about that. what the future might look like for them.”
Heart of Midlothian and New Zealand striker Katie Rood encouraged her teammates to stop using plastic water bottles and consider vegan options, saying: “We have one world, one planet , and I think we are often detached from the impacts and potential damage to the planet when making decisions in our daily lives.
In a quirk of the fixture list, perhaps the two most involved players meet on Saturday when Funso Ojo’s Port Vale take on Wycombe Wanderers, with their midfielder David Wheeler announced this week as the PFA’s Sustainability Ambassador.
Ojo has organized over 260 activities which Green Football Weekend organizers believe could represent over 500kg of CO2e saved, roughly the same as a return flight from London to Cairo.
“I wasn’t always such a green activist,” he said. “I used to drive a Porsche, but I’ve changed. I told the club I wanted to go on an electric program, on a plant-based diet, the plastic boots we used.
“Since I moved to my green course, I’ve been passionate about it. I’m in a position where there are maybe hundreds of people watching, maybe five people, but these are small changes. “
What did the fans do?
Some fans have also been driving the change in their clubs.
Burnley fan Cat Jebson started a band called Sustainable Clarets.
“It basically started with a few emails about vegan options and what we could do and I was really pleasantly surprised at how quick and thorough the club was in responding,” Jebson said.
Burnley welcomed the band’s involvement, seeing them as a ‘critical friend’, and Jebson said: ‘What we can do is put it even more into the context of Burnley. Why it really matters to the city.
“Climate change disproportionately affects the poorest people the most. So it’s an issue that we need to address at the highest levels of the Football Association, even government.”
Elsewhere, it was a fan who led Southampton’s first team to get rid of plastic bottles from the dugout on match day, while Everton set up a fan forum and the Everton for Change group, led by the support Chris Halsall.
Environmental manager Halsall can now combine his professional skills with his passion for his club, saying: “The new stadium will allow the club to significantly improve its environmental performance. I have been able to keep up to date with all environmental considerations in the design and construction process Ultimately our challenge for the club is to become net zero.
And the clubs?
Travel is a big area, with much of the spotlight on the fact that the majority of top teams are still take regular domestic flights, over very short distances.
This weekend, liverpool will travel to their match at Wolverhampton Wanderers in a coach which will be powered by “sustainable fuels”, with an emissions saving of 90% over a normal diesel coach. Tottenham Hotspur team coaches will be powered by biofuel, which is the case for all their home games.
Fan travel represents the largest part of the sport’s footprint, and City of Norwich are encouraging supporters to use e-bikes to take to the ground for their game against Burnley, while Carlisle United organize a ground march for the game against Harrogate Town.
What are the challenges?
While clubs, players and fans are doing their part, those at the top of the game, both domestically and internationally, are constantly left wondering whether football is making enough progress in its efforts to properly address its emissions and its relationship with the environment.
The game is growing. UEFA expands European competitions, Fifa does the same for both Men’s And women’s world cups, and Premier League clubs still travel huge distances on pre-season tours, and many fly in for domestic matches.
Freddie Daley is a researcher at the University of Sussex specializing in football and the environment.
“Flight will continue to be a crucial element in promoting the sustainability of football,” Daley said.
“The trend of playing more games in a season and hosting bigger international tournaments requires a lot of air travel for players and fans.
“It’s not just the mission of clubs. Leagues can play a leading role in adjusting the match schedule so that clubs can use low-carbon modes of transport and not have to count on short-haul flights.
“There’s also the lens. The psychology of sustainable behavior change emphasizes the importance of leadership and integrity in leading people to adopt low-carbon lifestyles.
“If fans see teams jumping on planes instead of a two-hour train journey, it can undermine the message that we all need to act to address the climate crisis.
“Worse still, if a football club makes public statements about the need to tackle climate change and asks its supporters to change their behavior, but then uses short-haul flights, that borders on hypocrisy.”
Activists are also using Green Football Weekend to question the sport’s relationship to fossil fuel corporate money, whether through club ownership, event hosting or sponsorship.
Frank Huisingh of Fossil Free Football wants to see restrictions on advertising and sponsorship.
“Young football players, like their fans who follow their every move, are living in an era of a rapidly worsening climate crisis,” he said. “It’s unfair to ask young players to be a billboard for big climate polluters that threaten their future.”
The many small actions by fans, clubs and players at Green Football Weekend are expected to combine to significantly reduce emissions, and organizers hope there will be a legacy that will continue.
Sarah Jacobs of Green Football Weekend said: “This is not an isolated case. This is about driving ongoing climate conversation and action, galvanized by an annual moment that brings together the entire football community – a time we want to see grow in ambition and escalate.”
