The World’s First Vegan Football Team Has Launched a New Vegan Society Sponsorship

As we approach the halfway point of Veganuary, record numbers of people pledge to give up meat and dairy for the month, while The Vegan Society launches a creative strategy to promote veganism by sponsoring a football team.

The Vegan Society’s VEG 1 supplement will be embroidered on the jerseys of Forest Green Rovers Football Team, which is billed as the world’s first entirely vegan and carbon neutral football club.

The supplement has signed on as the official sponsor of the Gloucestershire-based professional football team.

Forest Green Rovers FC is a member of the English Football League (EFL) League Two.

Staff from The Vegan Society will attend the inaugural VEG 1 sponsored game, Forest Green vs. Nottinghamshire’s Mansfield Town, tomorrow (Tuesday January 18), to commemorate the start of the relationship and Veganuary.

Veganism in Football

Forest Green Rovers are now in first place in the EFL League Two, having been dubbed “the greenest football team in the world” by FIFA for being carbon-neutral and solely offering vegan food, as well as being registered with the Vegan Trademark.

The Vegan Society will recognize the man of the match with a pot of VEG 1, and the players will give the staff with a signed FGR jersey at the conclusion of the game.

“A lot of our Vegan Trademark clients are sponsors too, including Ecotricity and Funktional Foods, so it just made sense for our multivitamin product VEG 1 to also get behind the greenest club in the world… It’s clear that this club and the players really care about their environmental impact and we can only hope that other clubs are inspired to consider theirs and follow suit,” states Bethany Dandy, VEG 1 marketing officer at The Vegan Society.

Following a decision to become more environmentally friendly last year, VEG 1 packaging is now constructed entirely of aluminum, making it 100% plastic-free and totally recyclable.

The makeover took two years to complete and was prompted by customer requests for more environmentally friendly packaging.

The recent COP26 issues and trials of front-of-pack carbon labeling revealed last year have substantially influenced consumer concerns about the impact of food on carbon emissions and packaging waste.

“Shared Planet” is presently ranked first among Innova Market Insights’ Top Ten Trends for 2022, with the market researcher stating that consumers increasingly prioritize planetary health over personal health, which had previously been the top priority.

Source: “The first fully vegan and carbon neutral football club in the world kicks off new Vegan Society sponsorship” by Food Ingredients First