football for future

Surrey FA joins the University of Oxford to discuss footballs sustainability.

The panel discussed who is responsible for making English football environmentally sustainable.

This month Surrey FAs Football Development Officer Emma Eaton was invited to be a panelist at Oxford University, alongside Wycombe Wanderers player David Wheeler and representatives from West Sussex County Council to discuss the sustainability of football.

The panel chaired by Football for Future discussed sustainability in English football and brought together a variety of voices from across football to think about leading on sustainability in the sector.

The discussion was part of the Oxford Programme in Sustainability Leadership, a three-day course for current students from across the university, hosted by the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the School of Geography and the Environment.

The panelists highlighted the lack of money allocated to tackling environmental sustainability within football, as well as the little information available on how football affects our climate.

David Wheeler talked about how individuals within the game can make a difference. “We can only control what we can control” he said. “That’s a big thing, each individual doing what they can do and try to influence their friends and local community the best that they can and hope that will have a ripple effect outwards from that".

Emma Eaton outlined the financial difficulties with dedicating budget to sustainable projects. She said, “If we had [the] budget to go out into communities, into grassroots clubs and help them to educate their coaches or players on the small things, it would make a huge difference”

You can catch up on the full discussion here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OguMkT_TjfU

If you want to find out more about Football for Future and how you can help build a more sustainable culture in football, please follow the link below to the Football for Future website.

FOOTBALL FOR FUTURE WEBSITE