Grassroots sports clubs commit to climate action as £1.5m project tackles impacts on communities
While billions watch a FIFA Men’s World Cup that researchers warn could be the most polluting to date, and Wimbledon faces disruptions from extreme heat, a green revolution is quietly taking root in grassroots sports at home. Supported by a £1.5 million grant from The National Lottery Community Fund, the new Gamechanging Futures project will support six English sports clubs, transforming them into thriving community climate hubs.
The three-year project, led by Climate Outreach and Pledgeball, comes at a critical juncture as grassroots clubs face unprecedented disruptions from extreme weather.
Climate change has become impossible to ignore for local sport. The Football Association (FA) estimates that 120,000 football matches were cancelled last year due to harsh weather, while a third of community pitches are now unplayable for up to two months of the season due to flooding and waterlogging.
Pitch irrigation and wildly fluctuating wet and dry spells leave us on a knife-edge with cancellations.
Geoff Martin, Media Manager at Bexhill United FC, one of the participating clubs
Beyond the fixture backlog, climate-related damage and disruptions to grassroots sport take a massive financial toll, currently estimated at £320 million annually in England. Local communities also suffer, from school groups losing access to pitches to thousands of fans missing out on matchdays.
The risks are escalating. The Climate Change Committee’s recent report sounded the alarm that adaptation cannot wait, recognising that sport forms an “integral part of UK culture.”
As well as being on the frontline of impacts, sports clubs can be central to communities making change, ranging from more sustainable food options to thinking about lower carbon travel to matches.
Gamechanging Futures will put communities front and centre in the club’s journeys in tackling climate change. Nadim Hammad, Office Manager at FC United of Manchester, said: “Our club has huge ambition to grow and become an integral community anchor organisation in an area with structural societal challenges – but a strong and diverse spirit.”
Fans and players of grassroots sport are already feeling the effects of our changing climate. But they are also at the forefront of driving positive change. From installing solar panels to bring down bills to creating accessible, low carbon clubhouses, clubs are taking action to lower emissions and build community pride. We're really excited to be working with these clubs to see what more we can achieve together
Rachael Orr, CEO at Climate Outreach
Clubs are often the beating heart of communities, a space where people congregate regularly, united in shared goals and emotions, and they invoke a real sense of pride. Working with these clubs offers the opportunity to promote and support climate action in a way that makes sense to the communities, developing community-led services and programmes that benefit both people and place; and are the trigger for a new way of doing things.
Katie Cross, CEO at Pledgeball
The six participating clubs are Bexhill United FC, Edgbaston Archery & Lawn Tennis Society, FC United of Manchester, Hastings United FC, Ilminster Bowling & Tennis Club, and Sutton Churches Tennis Club.
There’s a real buzz around what clubs are looking to achieve. Kirsty Garrett, Captain and Coach at Sutton Churches Tennis Club, said: “We are very excited to be part of this project to make real climate change habits through our club, community and beyond. We are very much a grassroots club with a diverse range of members of the local community playing, socialising and being at the club every week.”
Hastings United FC will launch a new community initiative that helps keep football boots and kit in play through donation, repair, exchange, and redistribution. Geoff Martin said: “Bexhill United FC are keen to cut energy usage in the future through the installation of LED footlights.”
Thanks to National Lottery players, Gamechanging Futures has received £1.5 million over 3 years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK.
Climate action works best when it connects to the things people already care about — and for millions, that's their local sports club. Grassroots sport is a space where communities already come together, already take pride, already act collectively. Initiatives like Gamechanging Futures show us what's possible when we support projects that meet communities where they are: delivering real benefits for people as well as the planet.
Liz Watchorn, Head of Funding at The National Lottery Community Fund
Stay tuned via the project page and sign up to the Climate Outreach newsletter for updates.
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