Should football now change to reflect the Climate Emergency?
Two ideas here. Both have been discussed on the gasroom in the past. Should Football in this country now start to set an example by
1/ Changing kick off times for all Saturday games to 2pm from next season ( I favour a inform ko time throughout the season for simplicity ) This would hopefully more or less get rid of the need to use lights on afternoon games and 2/ Implement a five year plan to regionalise all football below either Championsip or League 1 These two measures would reduce footballs carbon footprint ,setting a good example from the Country's premier sport and in the case of suggestion 2 have beneficial effects for both club finances and easier access to games for travelling fans.
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I agree with some of these but a regionalised League One? No thanks.
You could do away with much international sport altogether, if we were really serious about this.
For me personally, living a fair distance north of High Wycombe, regionalisation of any league that Wycombe Wanderers may be playing in would be likely to result in an increase in my carbon footprint. I am conscious of the potential environmental effects of my travel to games and have considered going for an all electric car, but only the very expensive ones have sufficient range at the moment and I can't afford them.
2pm kick-offs would make a big difference, just a case of the football authorities being sensible enough to look at it in terms of environmental benefit - which I don't have much faith in them doing.
I'd imagine fans of Carlisle, Exeter, Plymouth, Fleetwood etc might have a thing to say about 2pm kick offs.
I say this in all seriousness, but wouldn't an early finish just mean that thousands of people get home an hour early to turn thousands of lights on?
I am surprised that floodlights are often on long before dusk, sometimes when the sun is still shining. I believe it is the referee who decides when they should be switched on. I know they take a while to warm up but even so.
Get rid of referees because they're bad for the environment?
Not sure this is the best place for serious discussion on the reduction of hot air
Not sure why Csrlisle etc would have any different reasons than the rest. If you have a 2pm ko you leave earlier to get to the game but get back earlier. In any event if you merge L2 with the National League and regionalise 3 of those 4 would be playing games in their part of the country not facing ridiculous 600 mile round trips to play in front of small crowds As for going home and switching the lights on that's assuming everyone lived alone or don't have lights on a timer anyway. I believe that in winter the floodlights at grounds must be on at 3pm due to league rules regardless of the daylight between 3 and 4 At the time of writing this its 15.40 and its broad daylight
Not holding a European final in Azerbaijan when two English clubs are playing would probably help.
I feel I'm rather stating the obvious here, but I might as well say it anyway. Many thousands of football fans all over the country base their Saturday matchday routine around a local pub lunch prior to the game. For many, it's an important social part of the day. In addition, many football clubs attract fans to their own hospitality areas for pre-match meals. 2pm starts will go a long way to killing that market.
What Buzz says is correct, but the whole point of an emergency is that some existing behaviours may well need to drastically change to address the challenge. We might well have to find other ways to do the match-day experience if that experience is to be an option for future generations.
Reducing the amount of meat on sale is something clubs need to start doing.
And not having a Euro 2020 tournament spread around half of the continent
I watch my lad play Saturday mornings sometimes. Then we have the routine of post match shower before departing for some away games, up to two hours away, ie: Cheltenham, Northampton, Midland teams its. A 14.00 KO will undoubtedly remove some of them as a possibility, so in that regard, it will reduce our carbon footprint, increase my disposable income but take away from the home club. Swings & roundabouts I guess?
Yes it's tricky I agree and it won't suit everyone and all lifestyles. The original 3pm was brought in when people worked half a day Saturday's and that habit is over 100 years old and of a different era. Walking down Hillbottom Road in daylight after the game would be a bonus
2pm kick offs would seriously affect attendance
Would it really though? How can you tell for sure?
It's 1 hour difference. It's not like midweek, that can be very awkward with work.
It all depends on how serious football is about making changes to benefit the environment.
You have to at least think about what might seem absurd just to start the discussion about what would be acceptable. So ...
Why not a ban on away fans so as to remove the pollution from travel? We could all watch on ifollow.
I realise that this will be derided by probably everybody but, as commented above, if you believe we face a climate emergency can it be justified?
I fully expect this suggestion to be scoffed at and for at least one person to suggest why not go the whole hog and just stop.football completely.
My answer would be "If you believe we face a climate emergency can it be justified?".
Power the floodlights with solar energy and only allow electric cars in the car park? Alternatively only play in the summer.
The roofs of the four stands could be solar tiled.
I think the global warming/climate change activists now generally refer to a crisis rather than an emergency. I’m not at all sure what the distinction is but they are different in different ways according to context. For example, with the pressure on GP surgeries having a knock-on effect on numbers going to A&E, you could say there is a crisis in medical emergency services.
In the unlikely event that the government decided within my lifetime to ban “commercial” football as part of a wider strategy to reduce carbon, I wouldn’t get unduly upset but then I have had a long lifetime of enjoying football from the grass roots upwards. I am also very concerned about the potential horrors which could afflict younger generations and others yet unborn.
Crikey, all that tosh as a result of wondering about the distinction between an emergency and a crisis.
There's so many areas that would come before stopping football fans going to games though surely.
Stopping anyone taking planes for example. Stopping any use of the worst fuels.
Banning any future building work in green areas, limiting kids to a maximum of 1 per family - or even like Brave New World / 1984 type ideas, limit the type of people who can have kids, or what jobs they'll be bred for.
Having as many people who can work from home every day so as such.
Banning any car journeys over a certain distance where there's less than say 3 people in the car
Certainly football is a long way down the line.
2pm kick offs would be a start. Perhaps.
Paperless tickets are a small but positive step in the right direction at Wycombe. I was hoping they can just 'reload' season ticket cards for next season as well, rather than issuing thousands of new ones again - especially as they had to issue them twice this season. Did I also hear that we've got rid of the team sheets?
Yes the less wastage the better, but at least paper is one of the more recyclable / disposable materials out there.
It's not even in the same league as plastic for issues.
Single-use plastic needs more or less eradicating from our lives - and some football clubs are starting to make changes like introducing reusable cups, although there is much more to do - but if we already have cards for this season, surely the least wasteful option would be to make them valid for use next season?
I don't think clubs like to do that for a couple of reasons.
At Wycombe, the scanners often don't work - so the kid tends to look at the year on the card. It shows 2019/20, so would cause a problem being the next season
And someone more technical than me can probably answer, but if you have 3,000 season tickets, all chipped to scan, and 300 people don't renew, are they technical enough to only shut off those 300? I'd actually be quite surprised if they can do that at Wycombe level.
That's the opposite way round to how you would actually do it. All cards get invalidated at the end of the season, and then each time someone renews you reactivate it.
Our (hopefully soon to be) American owners could look to fly less. But then that would require him to either move here or run the club from the US.
Not sure which is more preferable to him.
Sure it’s not a private jet he uses but a general reduction in flights for all would probably help.