Eco soccer team has vegan ambition
NAILSWORTH, England — Soccer club Forest Green Rovers, run by a former nomad turned renewable energy entrepreneur, are proudly boasting their credentials as a pioneer in environmental sustainability.
As at every football ground in the country, chips, pies and beer are on offer at New Lawn, their 5,000-capacity, eco-friendly ground in Nailsworth, a 6,000-strong town in the picturesque rolling Cotswold Hills of Gloucestershire, southwest England.
But there are no hot dogs — meat is banned and all the cuisine is vegan. The pitch is kept lush with captured rainwater, the paint contains no chemicals and 20 percent of the energy comes from solar panels on the roofs of the stands.
There are charging points for electric cars and their lime green and black team strip bears the logo of marine wildlife conservation group Sea Shepherd UK.
Founded in 1889, Rovers were promoted to the professional leagues in May. They opened their campaign in the fourth-tier League Two on Aug 5.
Despite their name, Forest Green only started going green when Dale Vince took over as chairman in 2010.
“We felt we had an opportunity to bring our message to an audience that really weren’t exposed to it typically,” he said.
“The audience I’m talking about is football fans and the message is around the environment and things that we all need to do to live more sustainably.
“So we thought, this is great, this is not preaching to the choir, let’s go in there and talk about food and talk about transport.”
Vince, 53, founded Ecotricity, which claims to be the world’s first green electricity company, supplying power from renewable sources.
The former traveller sees himself more as an environmentalist than a businessman. Vince built his first wind turbine in 1990, when he was still living in a camper van on a hill near the stadium.
Success on the pitch is critical to spreading the eco message, he said.
“We have an organic pitch. That doesn’t mean anything if it’s not a great football pitch,” he adds.
Vince dreams of moving his club two divisions up to the Championship, one step below the top Premier League, and aims within four years to open an Eco Park with a new stadium.
The plans feature what Vince describes as the first stadium made entirely from wood, alongside an incubator for environmental startup businesses.
Manager Mark Cooper also sees improved results on the pitch.
While not a vegan himself, he gave up meat six months ago and is positive about his new diet: “I loved a bacon sandwich on a Sunday morning, but not any more!”
Some of the fans are less enthusiastic about the choice of food on offer at New Lawn, but they agree when it comes to beverages, deeming tea with soy milk undrinkable. Beer, they conclude, is a preferable alternative.