chanting his name. They held up traffic while calling for millionaire Dale Vince, who owns League Two side
Forest Green Rovers, to come out to make a rallying speech.
“It was very... unexpected,” recalls the 57-year-old. “Amusing, flattering, slightly embarrassing. But lovely.
I was in a meeting with the accountants when it started. I popped out and [the activists] offered me the
microphone but I didn’t speak. These kids don’t need an adult telling them what to do.”
Instead, as a barbecue was cranked up on nearby grass verges, he had vegan burgers delivered for all. “Their
energy, the sense of anarchy,” he says. “I love that.”
If this sounds like no ordinary interaction between student environmentalists and a local footy baron, that
may be because Dale Vince is no ordinary chairman. The one-time New Age traveller, who made a mint
setting up the UK’s first renewable energy company – called Ecotricity and started with a single wind
turbine on the back of a truck – has spent the last decade turning Forest Green Rovers into the world’s only
UN-recognised carbon neutral sports club.
Here, the pitch is organic, the kits are bamboo, and the stands have solar panels on top. Ticket prices
include a carbon-offsetting levy, while even the soap in the stadium toilets is made with grass cuttings from
the playing field.
Most notably of all, perhaps, fans wanting a half-time pie or burger are offered vegan options only. The
stadium is meat- and dairy-free, a state of affairs that has resulted in one of English football’s more surreal
chants. “Where,” sing away supporters, “have your hot dogs gone?”
****Walking into the Forest Green Rovers’ 5,100 capacity stadium, The New Lawn in Nailsworth, there are
immediate signs that this is a club on an eco-mission. Wild planting borders the ground; a wind turbine
stands in one corner; the hoardings advertise things like Quorn and the Sea Shepherd conservation society.
Vince, himself – T-shirt, jeans, earrings – buzzes about, speaking to players, groundsmen, kitchen staff.
Somehow, he gives the impression of being both entirely energised and laid back to the point of being
horizontal. During his 20s, he had repeated run-ins with police at a range of environmental protests, and,
despite now living in a £4m mansion, still has the vibe of a man who’d consider chaining himself to a tree if
push came to shove.
Rovers in action against Crawley Town (Forest
Green Rovers FC)The Independent is here because, if the UK is to achieve its now legally enshrined target of achieving zero-
carbon emissions by 2050, there’s probably no one better qualified to understand the possibilities and
potential pitfalls than Dale Vince.