Football Poets

(* The I Ching (or Book of Changes) is an ancient Chinese divination manual, oracle, and philosophical text used primarily for personal reflection, decision-making, and understanding life’s changes)

This totally revamped poem, came about in the past week following the introduction (by our New Age/Eco Owner Dale Vince) of the of extensive greenery and plants in the changing room at their New Lawn, Another Way, Forest Green home ground .

I originally wrote an early fantasy version in 1996 as a vision of a fictitious/ imaginary New Age football club . I even performed it live with the Football Poets at the Festival Hall, London along with our then co-editor Stuart Butler at a Euro 96 launch event made possible by Philosophy Football . The poem in its original format was first published a few years later here when we launched the Football Poets site in Stroud in June 2000 .

Regarding this new version about Forest Green Rovers **
( Oh no them again…….trying to save the planet etc; How dare they ?)

Aside from the odd cup game at The Lawn, as a lifelong Chelsea fan who’d grown up in West London, I didn’t actually start following Rovers and going to games seriously seriously until 2009. This was around the time when Dale took over and coincided with the classic Derby Country 3rd Round FA Cup when 5000 turned up here at the New Lawn for a 3-4 thriller defeat on an icy afternoon. I was hooked.

Since then, love it or loathe it, a real alternative and very Green, Vegan and sustainable team has developed and emerged. Serendipity.

About Forest Green Rovers**: For those who haven’t come across them yet,
Founded in 1889, the club are currently back languishing in the National League ,having risen initially to the lofty heights of League One following 126 years of non-league obscurity. Today Forest Green Rovers have remarkably gone on to become widely recognised by FIFA and the United Nations as the world’s greenest football club.

Why They Stand Out:
• Carbon Neutral: Certified carbon-neutral by the UN through its Climate Neutral Now initiative.
• Vegan Menu: The first fully vegan football club in the world, serving plant-based food to players, staff, and fans since 2015.
• Green Energy & Tech: Powered by 100% green energy from Ecotricity, rooftop solar panels, an organic pitch cut by a solar-powered GPS robotic lawnmower, and rainwater recycling systems. Their Pee to Pitch system at games recycles and purifies away fans urine to water the pitch . ( We do literally take the piss out of away fans. Boom Boom.)

I could go on! You get the picture.