Our thinking

Into extra time

29 July, 2022

With England’s Lionesses Euro Final on Sunday and tremors of ‘it’s coming home’ not far away, the role of sport in bringing people together and sparking conversations is particularly pronounced. That’s why we were pleased to see Reading Football Club’s announcement this week focused on how they’re raising awareness of the climate crisis, an issue so far largely neglected by the sport.  

Reading’s new home kit features a stripe design to represent increasing average global temperatures. Each stripe on the shirts shows a year’s average temperature over the club’s 151-year existence, with blue stripes representing cooler than average years and red hotter than average. Even better, the shirt is made from recycled plastic bottles and can itself be recycled again in the future. 

This move is alongside a recent partnership with Reading University to begin reducing the club’s carbon footprint, including investigating solar panel options at its stadium and supporting fans to recycle more on matchdays. Whilst there is still much more to be done, Reading is beginning the journey and looking to bring their fans with them.  

Through visually demonstrating climate change, the new match kit could help start more discussion about climate change and inspire action to fight it amongst a new audience. The support of fans is a powerful force and harnessing that support for environmental progress is a positive step towards the whole societal approach our planet needs.  

With a much bigger goal to save, let’s hope we can all start kicking it where it counts.  

By Alice Railton