In 2015 Arsenal made the headlines for flying to an away game in Norwich. The flight took all of 14 minutes, less time than the 17 minutes it took to drive from the airport to the stadium. A couple of Arsenal players who are known for their climate action voiced their objections and it made the papers – even the Daily Mail labelled it ‘controversial’.
Flying seems far less controversial today, with a growing acceptance of private aviation among celebrities and sportspersons. Alongside the one everyone know about, 828 private planes delivered fans to Las Vegas for the Superbowl recently. Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford flew to Belfast for a night out a couple of weeks ago, but the big outrage was that he called in sick the day after to dodge training. Most media commentators didn’t comment on taking a private plane for a night out.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given they are sponsored by an airline, Manchester City are especially partial to private jets and flew to 10 away matches last year. That’s just domestic flights – I don’t think we should grumble that they didn’t take the coach to Copenhagen last night.
As Possible point out, those ten flights only saved about an hour per trip, once you factor in security checks and journeys to the airport. They’re calling on the Premier League to bring in a no flying policy across the league, and you can send a letter in support of that demand here.
As an alternative to a total ban, some football clubs have developed the Sustainable Travel Charter, which sets out a decision making process for choosing whether or not to fly. It allows for exceptions under particular circumstances, but generally sets the coach or train as the default option for journeys under 4.5 hours. Perhaps you could suggest that your local club signs up to the charter.
The Earthbound Report 