GLASGOW WARRIORS STARS JOIN TV AND SPORTS NAMES IN NATIONAL ‘SAVE OUR GRASSROOTS’ CAMPAIGN
JOIN KYLE ROWE AND ALLY MILLER FOR FUN FOOTBALL MATCH IN WELLIES ON SATURDAY 12 OCTOBER AT POLLOK UNITED NETHERCRAIGS 11.00am to 1.00pm
Fun football match for national campaign highlights public need and affection for grassroots sport and nature-rich green spaces at risk from climate change
Organisers of the national SAVE OUR GRASSROOTS campaign are looking for more players to join Scottish sport stars and local communities at Glasgow’s Pollok United Nethercraigs Complex on Saturday 12 October 11am-1pm for a fun football match played in wellies, to highlight that 1 in 4 grassroots spaces are under immediate threat from climate change and nature loss.
The event is part of a UK-wide campaign which will see former Scotland Rugby Sevens captain Jamie Farndale, and football & Strictly star Paul Merson play in wellies at London’s Hackney Marshes, on Wednesday 9th October.
The stats are stark: one in four stadiums across the UK can expect partial or total annual flooding by 2050; extreme weather has stopped 130,000 cricket overs in the last decade; 120,000 football games are now lost every season. For green spaces, heatwaves and drought increase the risk of wildfires and disease, while extreme rainfall further threatens biodiversity, and its vital role to improve air pollution, mental health and wellbeing, reduce flooding and mitigate the effect of hot temperatures.
The Save Our Grassroots events are part of COMMON GROUNDS, a campaign led by The Climate Coalition, Rewriting Earth, Local Storytelling Exchange and Hope For The Future. Channelling a can-do Olympic spirit, the campaign aims to create a groundswell of public noise around green spaces, that urges MPs to champion action that is good for us, good for nature and good for climate.
Commenting on the campaign, ex-Rugby 7s Captain Jamie Farndale and BBC Green Sport Awards 2024 nominee says: ‘The science is clear – recent groundbreaking reports show that we are going into a warmer and wetter world where more matches will be cancelled because of rain, flooding, drought and heat. Unfairly, it is grassroots sport that will be less able to cope with these changes.
“COMMON GROUNDS highlights the national affection for all the benefits associated with local sport and green spaces, whether that’s improved physical mental and wellbeing to broader social benefits like reduced crime and better social integration.’