Online Football Community Gets Serious About Sustainable Change

One of the UK’s largest online football communities is getting serious about sustainable change following a major rebranding exercise. FCK Food puts the relationship between food and football under the microscope to raise awareness of the environmental impact of meat consumption and provide footy fans with alternative ideas to make it easier for sports enthusiasts to follow a simple yet delicious flexitarian diet.

As part of the community’s relaunch, a new selection of video content has been created to engage with audiences. In keeping with the team’s comedic and lighthearted banter-style approach to change, much of the content is designed to present flexitarianism in a humorous way. A video titled ‘Where’s Angus?’, for example, documents a taste test to see if the presenters could tell the difference between Aberdeen Angus beef and plant-based burgers. Another shows a visit to Sheringham Football Club, where the team tries to improve the bad luck streak of the Shannocks with better football fuel.

FCK Food focuses on flexitarianism, which is considered to be a middle ground between meat-eating and vegetarian diets. FCK Food encourages the consumption of plant-based foods for both health and environmental purposes, without prohibiting meat. FCK Food believes that putting certain foods off limits is detrimental as it makes it harder to stick to sustainable change.

FCK Food’s Charlotte Streck said, “By talking to the 50% of the planet who happen to be football fans, FCK Food aims to create an engaging and open environment where everyone, from meatheads to vegans, can discuss and learn more about a sustainable and healthy way to eat. We know that food plays a major role in football fandom, and our aim is to introduce fans to a huge range of plant-based options while still saying it’s OK to grab an occasional burger!”

If all football fans in the UK cut back their meat by half (to 750 grams a week), they would reduce ~86 million tons in GHG (GreenHouse Gas) emissions and ~15,500 billion in water use every year. That is more than Austria’s GHG emissions in 2017.

FCK Food is a project funded by international climate advisory, Climate Focus. Through the project, the team hopes to raise awareness of the negative and environmental impacts of meat consumption. By targeting one of the largest meat-eating communities — football fans — FCK Food is confident that UK meat consumption can be minimised, with a rise in plant-based alternatives.

The project is overseen by Norwich City legend Darren Eadie, herbivore Don Stewart, and self-confessed KFC-supporter, Gavin Wallace, along with a vast team of both vegans and fully-fledged meat eaters who together provide a balanced overview of flexitarianism, and share diet tips with the community.

To find out more about FCK Food, visit www.fckfood.com