No way!

It’s no longer unusual to be vegan! People from all walks of life are celebrating the benefits of a totally plant-based diet. After eating a totally plant-based diet for 22 years myself, I’ve seen massive shifts in collective consciousness in that time. More and more people embracing the compassionate, ethical, health and spiritual benefits of eating consciously…. yet, never in a thousand years did I think I’d be learning about the worlds first all-vegan football club! It’s true (and yes, I am still having to pinch myself). Not too many miles away from where I live here in the South West of England, there it is… the Forest Green Rovers have made the official switch to being all vegan on October 31st 2015! They’ve been serving all vegetarian for some years now (which naturally involved a lot of vegan foods), but this latest switch is AWESOME!

Forest Green Rovers Chairman, Dale Vince, said: “As a football club, we stopped serving meat to our players, fans and staff about four seasons ago. We’ve been on a mission since then to introduce our fans to this new world. When you drop the meat and two veg approach, a whole new world of food options opens up.

The gap between vegetarian and vegan food is actually quite small; it’s a step rather than a leap to take.  A lot of our food has been vegan for some time now, and this season we’ve taken the last small step.”

The ethical considerations for sentient life and benefits for personal health are becoming abundantly clear in the mainstream, whilst films like Cowspiracy bring undeniable awareness of the catastrophic effect that the animal industry is having on our planet.

I’m moved beyond words to know that a football club (a sport more typically associated with larger, beer, chips and burgers) is blazing the trail forward for a more compassionate world.

I’m hearing stories about radical plant-based transformation all over the world, yet this latest story brings hope. If these lads can do it, then what else is possible? Wow!

 

Dale Vince added: “The meat and dairy industry is responsible for more emissions than all the world’s planes, trains, cars and boats put together. It involves incredible animal cruelty and staggering numbers: in Britain alone, over 1 billion animals are eaten each year – 3 million per day – and that’s not even counting fish. Each of these animals lives a short and awful life, and each of them consumes more food than their bodies provide us with.

Cows, for example, can take up to ten times more high quality plant protein – grains and soya – than they produce – 10 kg goes in, 1kg comes out – which is madness. And, of course, as the WHO report this week makes plain, meat is bad for human health, being a major cause of cancer.

Making these facts plain and demonstrating what a plant based diet looks, and tastes like, is an important part of our work.”

Bring it on! Three cheers for Forest Green Rovers FC.

Photo Source: Forest Green Rovers FC