What Makes You Most Excited About The Sport And Sustainability Space?
Russell Seymour, British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS)
“There’s no other human endeavour that has the power and passion that’s related to sport. To communicate through sport is an honour and a massive opportunity.”
Barney Weston, Football for Future
“We’re in a very new sector and there is so much room for innovation. If you have ideas, run with them and try to do it in a comprehensive way, with the help of experts. The world’s your oyster.”
Mark Fairbrother, Millwall Football Club
“The sports sector is now starting to take sustainability very seriously. We’ve seen Forest Green Rovers FC being put on a pedestal, but everyone – from grassroots all the way up – is starting to act on this. They aren’t having to be sold on it, and that’s what really matters.”
Rachel Dulai, British Rowing
“It’s exciting because it creates an ethos of positivity in a world where there’s a lot of negativity or worry. I know it has a worrying side, but I think the positive is that we can work together, we can really do something about this, we can measure it. It gives everyone cause to be hopeful.”
Marc Hope, The Winning Tape Sports Agency
“It gives a great opportunity to engage our young people on a course that really means something to them. Greta Thunberg’s done a great job in this regard, and sport is another means of communicating to future generations. Particularly in light of our earlier discussion around sustainability sponsorships, this is a way to bring money into sports that might be struggling and unite fans behind something that matters.”
Michelle Leavesley, Warwickshire County Cricket Club
“I’ve always been excited about how sport is a vehicle of social change, but there is now widespread recognition that sport is an important driver of change for the planet too. So I’m excited about the potential to collaborate with our fans, supply chain, employees and public at large to find innovative solutions to environmental, social and economic issues to create a sustainable and thriving future for all.”
Claire Poole, Sport Positive
“What excites me is sessions like this. If you go back five or ten years, there were fewer people operating in this space. Now, different stakeholder groups are starting to wake up to this work and understand the role they play, beyond the sports organisers themselves. That to me is very exciting because we need to move out of our echo chamber. We need to bring together more organisations that sit around sport to lead and support this movement. Discussions like this show that progress.”
Richard Batley, England Rugby
“Never underestimate the power of sport and the reach it has. Expand your accountability beyond your footprint at the end of the day and that reach extends even further. There’s a lot more that we can do, and I look forward to achieving that.”
Ted Powell, Irwin Mitchell
“The 2022 World Cup Final in Qatar reached a global audience of 1.5 billion. That is an immense platform. The sports sector has a unique ability to initiate widespread, and desperately needed, action in relation to our climate.”
Tom Barnard, Irwin Mitchell
“It’s very encouraging to see the expertise and passion that exists for sustainability within sport. When you combine that with the influence sports has, it offers such a powerful platform for change. There’s been some exciting developments already, and that’s only going to grow in momentum.”