Sports have a huge footprint, both in environmental terms and socially. Sport has the ability to provoke real change and to inspire generations, to unify people in moments of ecstasy and in moments of despair. Politically, sport and sportspeople can exert huge pressure on politicians, even provoking changes in policy and direction. Environmentally though, sports exert huge demands on travel, power, and resources. Sports fans are often eager to discuss the positive changes that have been provoked or witnessed through the lens of sport, but in order to keep having such stories to tell, new possibilities surrounding some of our most beloved past-times need to be imagined.
With sports being a huge and generalised topic, this article will of course focus on Rugby. This will be a non-exhaustive look at our sport impact on the environment, making some basic suggestions with the aim of opening discussion.
There are many issues to cover
With around 2.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from Aviation, flying is one of the most obvious places to start. If one of the ‘Home Nations’ (England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales) fly to South Africa with a party size of 45 people, flying economy via London Heathrow, then according to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the party would be responsible for over 49,382 kilogrammes of Co2. For perspective, the average Briton in 2017 accounted for just 8473 kilogrammes, according to the Global Carbon Atlas. Considering that South African club sides now play regular club fixtures in Europe, with Europeans travelling to SA for away games, the footprint of the United Rugby Championship (URC) alone is monumental. When you consider international matches and European club competitions on top of that, the numbers are astronomical for rugby clubs. Travel cannot be stopped, but can it be done in a better way? Do teams offset emissions, for example?
Another big environmental impact comes from the mass-production of kit. It appears to be difficult to obtain any recent figures on shirt-sales, save for a few old statistics. Nonetheless, in the 2013/14 season, Wales Online reported Munster and Ospreys as the best-selling jerseys in the British Isles, selling a combined 54,000 jerseys that season. At the top end, the British Isles has (Premiership & United Rugby Championship) 23 elite teams at the time of writing. If a conservative average of 5000 jerseys sold by the remaining teams is assumed, per team, per season- that’s over 100,000 jerseys before the 54,000 for Ospreys and Munster. That’s over 150,000 jerseys that will have a shelf life of one season. These shirts are often plastic based, too. That’s before second-tier teams and of course the national sides and Lions jerseys which are no doubt even more popular still. The maths is crude, and probably quite conservative- but that’s a huge amount of unsustainably and ultimately ‘throw-away’ items sold every season (even if they end up in the cupboard for 20 years first). In business terms it makes entire sense, but the bottom-line is that the clubs are actively encouraging a throw-away culture, whilst selling damaging items.
In addition to this, big names in the rugby kit market, such as Macron, are promoting their use of ‘eco fabric’, which is made of recycled plastic bottles which ‘removes plastic from the ocean’. This appears to be nothing more than greenwashing, (behaviour/ activity that make people believe a company is doing more to protect the environment than it really is) as it doesn’t directly remove plastic from the ocean, but rather reduces the amount that makes it to the ocean from recycling plants. Either way, the phrasing sugar coats a big plastic turd. Macron still produce swathes of products filled with non-recycled synthetic fibres, all delivered in single-wrap plastic, all using products derived from the extraction of fossil fuels. It doesn’t even begin to address the issue of synthetic plastic fibres breaking down into microplastics, which ironically do pollute the oceans and the species living in them. In sum- ‘eco-fabrics’ are as green as the shit out of a bull’s arse.
Economically speaking it is logical that kit providers use the cheapest possible materials to turn a profit, but brands could do better than greenwashing customers with ‘eco-fabrics’. They should instead be striving for natural, non-polluting options delivered in sustainable, degradable or at very least readily recyclable packaging. Ideally, they would look to move away from a throwaway business model, but that’s a larger discussion for another time.
Matchday
Across every aspect of sports, there is a culture that could be improved, including the matchday experience. There has already been some movement here, (though this is not only driven my environmental concerns) as many clubs have started to encourage supporters onto public transport to bring them to matches, reducing the traffic, emissions as well as parking issues. With ‘decarbonised’ public transport increasingly becoming the norm, this is a positive reduction.
Many stadiums already have in place eco-schemes such as the use of ‘reusable cups’. These hat-tips to sustainability supposedly encourage supporters to return cups and recycle, as there is a deposit on them (usually around £1 in the UK) to encourage returns. However, these are still plastic items, and many are ditched in bins, or taken home and added to seemingly endless collections. Is there a better alternative? Metal cups (which actually cost a more significant chunk to the customer) that can either be returned, or reused? These remove the plastic waste, whilst also adding a financial incentive for fans to make sustainable decisions. Equally, they add just another cost to fans- There are no simple answers.
A final matchday consideration is the energy consumption to run live events- a very energy thirsty couple of hours. There’s unlikely to be incentive for teams to invest, but with stands providing roof space, and stadiums like Galway producing enough wind to power Ireland tenfold, is there a way teams could be encouraged to invest in renewable energy production and consumption? Though entirely different events, glimpses of what batteries can achieve, with sports such as Extreme-E running on stored energy, are paving the way with their ever-improving storage capabilities. Could storage solutions pave a way to addressing the intensive use energy consumption required for such events? Of course, batteries come with issues of their own to address, but represent a potential (if unlikely) step towards reducing the footprint of elite sports.
Baby steps
Some sports have made movements in this direction, if only on a very micro-scale for the majority. Forest-Green Rovers are ‘the world’s first vegan professional football team’, with fans only offered vegan food at matchdays, and players also taking up the diet (in theory!). Furthermore, rainwater is stored under the pitch for irrigation purposes, the sponsors are all from so-called green brands, the kit is made from supposedly sustainable products, and they will soon play in an all-timber ‘eco’ stadium.
The Premier League is also hosted it’s first ‘net-zero’ game (direct emissions associated with the match are reduced and offset), with vegan offerings at kiosks, reusable water bottles used by players, biofuel transport for the teams arriving at the game and fans will also be encouraged to reduce their own carbon footprints too.
Sponsorship
Another area which fans can push for improvement is in sponsorship. There will always be companies that fans disagree with, that others will see no problem with. However, during a climate crisis, fans should be asking themselves who they want sponsoring their clubs, and what values they align with. Certainly this has been a huge social change in the game with both Exeter Chiefs and Treviso Rugby Club (Bennetton) being criticised in recent years.
Solutions
Research shows that eco-anxiety can lead to inaction. Ultimately, what is required are solutions and a generation inspired to resolve the problems, and there are many improvements that could be made that already available- but it requires the pressure and voice of the fans. The below may not solve the problem and may already have been adopted in part by clubs. The main purpose of the list is to suggest that wholesale changes aren’t required to begin a move to a more sustainable way of enjoying rugby.
- Sustainable materials for kit production and packaging.
- Flight plans that reduce impact (such as shared charter flights).
- Offsetting of emissions on match related travel.
- Game scheduling to reduce travel (This happens already in URC with South African teams/games in SA organised as tours, as opposed to one-off trips)
- Improved messaging on sustainable switches for matchday, including food and travel.
- Changes of packaging to sustainable options across the event footprint.
- Renewable energy sources to be incorporated into stadiums.
- Incentivising sustainability where possible, including with all kit purchases.
These are a handful of relatively light-touch ideas. None of them will resolve the problem, but each one can look to begin a reimagination of the culture. Of course, rugby is not alone in having these issues- this is the nature of international sport, which can also bring huge benefits, not least socially and economically.
The purpose of the article here is to highlight some obvious and problematic areas with rugby and sports in general and to ask, how can we make this better, more sustainable? With an increasing focus on sustainability with younger generations and society at large, ultimately addressing these questions will not only reduce sports impact on the planet, but potentially attract a different market, and set a blueprint for other sports to follow. If sports’ ability for political and social change has been harnessed so many times before, why not again as we look the sustainable requirements required across society?
Tweet me @RugbyScribbler or send me an email at rugbyscribbler@gmail.com- I’d love to hear your thoughts.
The Scribbler, 23rd October 2021.
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