Manchester United visited Forest Green Rovers at The New Lawn stadium in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire last weekend as part of the Sustainability in Sport campaign
The fixture was organised by England football coach and former United star Gary Neville and FGR chairman Dale Vince to raise awareness and proceeds for their newly launched Sustainability in Sport foundation.
Gary Neville said it was a fantastic day at The New Lawn and a great way to highlight the Sustainability in Sport foundation.
Forest Green Rovers chairman Dale Vince said hosting Manchester United at The New Lawn was fantastic for Forest Green players and fans alike. “It’s also a great opportunity to highlight the work Sustainability in Sport are doing to change the rules of the game and put environmental issues at the heart of all sport,” he added.
Governing bodies, clubs and fans must take more responsibility for reducing the environmental impact of sport, according to the SIS campaign.
Neville has joined forces with green entrepreneur Dale Vince in launching the Sustainability in Sport foundation, which is aiming to put environmental issues at the heart of sport.
“The environmental impact of sport is massive but often overlooked – with the Olympics putting sport at the forefront of people’s minds, we believe the time is right to launch a green revolution in sport,” he explained.
“Sporting stars are role-models for people throughout the world and delivering messages on sustainability through sport can reach a diverse global audience.
“Sport is an important part of our everyday lives and we believe, sport as an industry, must grasp the green agenda.”
Dale Vince added: “The Olympics organisers have made great efforts to reduce their environmental impact and we applaud them for it, but there is no getting away from the fact that the London Olympics still had a massive carbon footprint – the equivalent of adding an extra city the size of Cardiff to the UK.
“The Olympics are a big event but they only happen once every four years. We need sport to be sustainable day-in day-out from the grassroots level upwards – we aim to help governing bodies, clubs and fans reduce the environmental impact of sport.
“Sustainability in Sport is about changing the rules of the game and putting environmental issues at the heart of all sport. As Gary says: nothing short of a revolution.”
Sustainability in Sport will aim to set eco-standards for stadiums, sports pitches, procurement, as well as partner with a cutting-edge technology companies to develop technology that helps clubs produce their own renewable energy and improve energy efficiency to reduce costs and carbon footprints.
It will also run workshops and sharing expertise on improving the sustainability of stadiums and achieve the EU’s EMAS standard that maps and audits environmental performance.