Tottenham and Newcastle have been accused of sending the “wrong example” over football’s commitment to tackling the climate crisis after it was confirmed they will play each other in a post-season friendly in Melbourne.
The match, which will be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and is scheduled to take place just three days after the final day of the 2023-24 Premier League season, will see both clubs embarking on a 21,000-mile round trip to Australia.
It has been billed as a homecoming game for Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou who grew up in Melbourne, played and managed South Melbourne and later took charge of Melbourne Victory.
However, the environmental impact of the fixture has drawn criticism. According to Flight Free Org, the greenhouse gas emissions of a single passenger travelling from London Heathrow to Melbourne International and back again is more than 4.2 billion people in the world would emit in an entire year.
Fossil Free Football, a group of football fans who are urging clubs and organising bodies to take serious climate action to protect the sport, believe the match further “normalises this extremely polluting elite form of travel”.
“This is the wrong example to give to fans and football followers, who are – like everyone – increasingly concerned about the climate crisis,” the group told i.
Sporting bodies, national associations, clubs and players have been condemned in recent years for exacerbating the climate crisis by flying to and from matches, including for short-haul domestic flights and for using private jets.
Fifa was found to have “misled the public and breached Swiss federal law” by Switzerland’s advertising regulatory body after claiming that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was the first “fully carbon neutral” tournament in world football.
The 2026 edition of the tournament is set to be significantly more detrimental to the planet given it will be staged across three different countries – the USA, Mexico and Canada – and will feature 48 teams, up from 32 in 2022. The total number of matches will rise from 64 to 104.
Uefa have expanded the European football calendar by making changes to the Champions League format from the start of next season, which will see the group stage increased from 32 teams to 36 and an additional 64 matches being played.
The timing of the friendly between Spurs and Newcastle has also been questioned from a player welfare perspective coming so soon after a gruelling campaign in which both clubs have had to contend with numerous injuries to key players.
According to Fifpro, the global professional footballers’ union, Tottenham defender Cristian Romero clocked up over 120,000 kilometres and 150 hours worth of travel from the start of the 2023-24 campaign until the end of February, the second highest figure for any international player worldwide.
It could pose logistical challenges for international managers planning to call up Spurs and Newcastle players for their squads ahead of the European Championship in Germany too.
Gareth Southgate will name his England squad on 21 May with players expected to report for duty the following week. James Maddison, Kieran Trippier and Anthony Gordon are all in contention to make his final 23.
“We regularly hear from players and coaches how this expanding football calendar has a negative impact on players’ health and performance,” Fossil Free Football said.
“On top of that, many clubs, Uefa and Fifa are sponsored by airlines, normalising this extremely polluting elite form of travel.
“There is only one logical conclusion. It’s time for football bodies and clubs to do the sensible thing: make the football calendar smaller and more local and kick out polluting sponsors. It’s better for players and the only planet we can play football on.”
Tottenham, who have been named the Premier League’s greenest club for the past four years, told i: “The club works with its official travel partner, Destination Sport Travel, to measure, manage and report on travel emissions, with the objective to reduce emissions where possible and identify sustainable team travel options.
“Destination Sport Travel is also working with the club to offset emissions where possible via the purchase of carbon credits verified by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“Tottenham Hotspur is committed to minimising its environmental impact across all club operations, which will take time and effort.
“As part of this commitment, and as a signatory of the UN Sports for Climate Action Framework, the club has a policy in place to ensure all its playing teams – comprising of the men’s first team, women’s first team and academy age groups – travel to and from matches as sustainably as possible.
“This includes minimising air travel where possible, with team officials and delegates travelling on the team plane where space permits. During the season, the team will travel by coach for all distances under 2.5 hours, whereby player physical optimisation and performance is not compromised as a result.”
Newcastle declined to comment when approached by i.
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