Forest Green eco-friendly Rovers
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ENGLISH football 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, in 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 fourth-tier of League Two in May.
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,” said Vince. “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. Vince built his first wind turbine in 1990, when he was still living in a camper van on a hill near the stadium.
“We have an organic pitch,” said Vince. That doesn’t mean anything if it’s not a great football pitch.”
Groundsman Adam Witchell said: “We can’t just use organics. We don’t use anything that’s derived of an animal.
“It’s healthier for myself, it’s healthier for the bees and, fundamentally, it’s healthier for the players.”
Witchell also weeds the grass manually. What goes for the pitch — mowed by a solar-powered robot — also goes for the food served to players and spectators.
“I thought, what a fantastic thing to do, to share really good food with a really large audience,” chef Em Franklin said, of taking on the club’s kitchen.
“With regards to getting the nutrients, and especially with athletes, it’s not hard to get that amount of protein.”
Manager Mark Cooper also sees improved results on the pitch.
“In extra time, we looked as fit as a team in the league above us,” Cooper said after Rovers lost 1-0 to third-tier visitors Milton Keynes in the League Cup first round last Tuesday.
While not a vegan himself, he gave up meat six months ago.
He said: “I loved a bacon sandwich on a Sunday morning, but not any more!”
Veganism is not enforced on the players in their private lives, but some have opted to go vegetarian.
Some of the fans are less enthusiastic about the food at New Lawn.
“(It) resembles cardboard and chilli sauce,” said Paul, of his unfinished vegetable burger. “I’m not against vegan food; I just wish there was a choice.”
But the football fans do agree when it comes to beverages, deeming tea with soya milk undrinkable. Beer, on the other hand, is a preferable alternative.
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