This is how the sports industry can act responsibly towards the environment
The football team GF38, the hockey team Brûleurs de Loups (BDL) and the rugby team FCG decided to embark on the European Green Capital year with different actions that are joining the programme of Grenoble Capitale Verte de l’Europe 2022.
Their involvement is a great way to show that the sports sector cares for the environment.
- Grenoble Foot 38 (GF38)
Jonathan Tinhan, in charge of the social and environmental mission of Grenoble Foot 38, chose to launch a European Green Capital Week within Grenoble’s European Green Capital programme at the end of February 2022 as he strongly believes that football can be “an impactful vector of solidarity towards ecology.”
During that week, the football club organised and participated in several activities that aimed at raising awareness and being part of the European Green Capital year of their city.
Therefore, GF38 planned an “ecological football fresco” (which is a collaborative and creative workshop where participants use simple tools such as cards, boards and drawings to raise awareness about climate change as explained here), to teach the young members of the Village-Olympique club (a southern-Grenoble District) the impact of this sport on ecology.
A clean-up action took place in the park around the Alps Stadium (Stade des Alpes), which was the event of the week, open to everyone and mostly dedicated to children. The football team launched a video campaign as well to encourage their supporters to come to the stadium in non-motorised transport.
Finally, the European Green Capital Week organised by GF38 ended with a match against Toulouse FC. On the occasion of this match, the players exceptionally wore the European Green Capital logo next to the GF38 logo on their t-shirts, and offered to 600 partners a « zero waste » meal that consisted in using only reusable dishes, eco-cups and zero plastic water bottles.
- Brûleurs de Loups (BDL)
The collaboration between Grenoble Capitale Verte de l'Europe (GCVE) and BDL started when a delegation from Grenoble was invited to the Closing Ceremony of the European Green Capital year of Lahti in December 2021, where they attended a hockey match. That was when the awarded cities had the idea to organise a hockey match between their local hockey teams in August 2022.
With this in mind, GCVE got in touch with the managing team of the BDL that showed real willingness to take part in the Grenoble’s EU Green Capital year and even came up with the suggestion of designing the “warm-up t-shirts” they would wear at the beginning of every match.
- FC Grenoble Rugby (FCG)
FCG organised its own Sustainable Development Week on 2 May 2022 for the second year in a row. The club reached the GCVE team to be part of this year’s programme.
During the Sustainable Development Week, FCG organised Climate Fresco workshops, clean-up and recycling actions, and a conference on individual behaviour and its impact on climate.
The week ended with the national Alberto tournament that brought together 25 teams of children under twelve years old.
FCG had a clear goal for this last event: make it as environmentally friendly as possible (no plastic water bottles, selective garbage bins, etc.).
These collaborations were a great way for Grenoble to reach out to youth and to the supporters of these sports clubs. Sports play an important role when it comes to disseminating information and raising awareness of the environmental crisis.
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