Stoke City: Eastlands leaves rest green with envy
Stoke supporters travel to the City of Manchester Stadium for the first time to see their club at Manchester City's new HQ since 2003.
And the 48,000 capacity arena – used originally for the 2002 Commonwealth Games – is not only appreciated among football fans as a state-of-the-art stadium, but also by environmentalists for its concessions to the Green cause.
A recent report published for Ethical Consumer magazine applauds Manchester City for environmental initiatives in and around the stadium to ensure the club's carbon footprint is implanted by ballet shoes rather than a pair of size tens.
The club has:
Experimented with rainwater toilets and solar energy.
Produced match programmes on sustainably-sourced paper and printed with vegetable inks.
Cut the number of parking spaces by 50 per cent after co-ordinating bus and rail services with the local council, while also promoting walking and cycle routes.
The club was even prepared to build an 85-metre high wind turbine outside the ground, it seems, until they realised that giant ice drops falling off its blades could seriously injure fans walking to the game.
Only non-league Dartford appear to be eclipsing Manchester City's initiatives at present after they installed two rainwater lakes to supply the 20,000 litres required to water their pitch every day.
So what of Stoke City in this report?
The news would seem to be mixed, frankly, as the club could clearly do much more, but maybe not as much as some of their Premier League colleagues.
Stoke scores lowly when it comes to football kits because their supplier, Le Coq Sportif, has been criticised by labour rights campaigners for using anti-union factories in Turkey and Indonesia to make their products.
Stoke score higher than any other Premier League club for their choice of shirt sponsor, however, as the Britannia Building Society is both ethically sound and promotes nothing more immoral than wanting to own your own house.
Like their Premier League brethren, Stoke are ticked off for most probably supplying their stadium restaurants with meat and fish likely to have been factory farmed as well as free range.
However, with Stoke and most other Premier League clubs supplying so little information on either their environmental policy or their green activities, those conducting the survey have either guessed at or dodged any serious conclusions.
But we can safely assume that football, like virtually every other industry, could do far more to safeguard the planet.
Perhaps Stoke fans returning from Manchester this weekend will have one or two ideas for their own HQ.
A couple of wind turbines would certainly enjoy the elements in the open corners of the Britannia Stadium.
Comment on this story