The weekend of February 2nd–5th saw the return of Green Football Weekend (GFW) for a second year running, an initiative that aims to engage supporters, players, clubs, and broadcasters in pro-environmental behaviour change through a range of education programmes, matchday activities, sustainable travel alternatives, and the promotion of meat-free meals. This year, the campaign diverted the majority of its attention to highlighting the crucial role that supporters play in reducing football’s carbon dioxide and methane emission levels. And with case study research conducted by the Danish Institute for Sports Studies estimating that 60% of a club’s total emissions arise from fan travel alone, it is understandable why this year’s focus is on the supporters.
GFW partnered with broadcasters Sky Sports and TNT Sports to promote the campaign’s messages, with a range of short videos produced for TV and social media that aimed to encourage supporters to substitute meat for ‘veggie’ alternatives and to consider sustainable travel alternatives on matchdays. However, while the media campaigns certainly got the fans talking, amassing millions of views, it was not for the reasons intended. Sky and TNT were subject to a barrage of posts across social media, branding the message pushed by the broadcasters as highly hypocritical due to the long history of football supporters being subjected to inconvenient fixture rescheduling.
Within GFW itself, Leeds United and Manchester City fans were both subjected to 200-mile journeys home with no trains running after Leeds United’s away fixture against Bristol City was rescheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday, February 2, and Manchester City’s away fixture against Brentford was rescheduled for Monday, February 5, according to Sky Sports. It wasn’t just on social media that fans vented their frustration, either. Most notably, Newcastle United’s supporter group ‘Wor Flags’ hit back at broadcasters with a stadium display against Luton Town that read “TV before fans” above the GFW logo. The group’s powerful accompanying statement accused broadcasters of “making a mockery of the Green Football Weekend” and called on them to “stop with the unsociable kick-off times, make it fairer for fans travelling, and stop your greed”. This message was even reciprocated five days later in the House of Commons by Labour MP Ian Mearns, who called for the intervention of a “much needed” football regulatory body to prevent such unsociable kick-offs from occurring in the future. The reaction of football fans across the country this weekend has put the pressure right back on the broadcasters. It’s not as simple a matter as adopting more sustainable public transport, as supporters’ abilities to take public transport are being jeopardised week in and week out by broadcasters’ television preferences.
The message from the supporters has been made clear: if broadcasters expect supporters to adopt sustainable transport alternatives, they must themselves act with integrity, set the example, and facilitate accessible fixtures with sustainability at the forefront of their decision-making. Although this weekend’s campaign has also seen some successful initiatives, such as providing sustainability education to football academies and students nationwide, it still feels as though the campaign missed an open goal with their strategy. Simply spreading the message that fans should ‘do more’ by switching to plant-based alternatives and using sustainable transport methods is only going to keep us in an environmental stalemate so long as players continue to take private jets to games, drive gas-guzzling cars, and maintain meat-based diets. If we want the fans to consider adopting sustainable choices on matchdays, it’s crucial that there is no hypocrisy on and off the pitch.
Clubs and their players have a huge opportunity to reduce the barriers to plant-based diets by showcasing the health and performance possibilities and challenging gendered perceptions of plant-based diets. It’s crucial that GFW’s strategy in the coming years put more direct focus on working with clubs, players, and broadcasters and utilise the unique emotional connection of supporters to their beloved clubs and players to generate indirect pro-environmental behaviour change on the supporter level. Football has an unrecognised potential to become a frontrunner in the global sustainability movement, and capitalising on the emotional connection between clubs and their supporters may just be the catalyst it requires to do so.
“Keir Starmer interviewed by Sky Sports, London, United Kingdom – 04 Feb 2024” by keir.starmer.mp is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.