Flooding Football Shirts to Raise Awareness of Climate Change
The Climate Clubs collective have launched “CLOSE TO HOME”, a project highlighting the 23 football clubs at risk of flooding by 2050, by redesigning their shirts to convey a powerful message.
So far, Kyle Harman-Turner and his team have “flooded” the shirts of Blackpool, Ipswich Town, Norwich, and Chelsea with water-inspired designs - featuring waves, ripples and shapes across the front - and the number “23” and name “flooded” on the reverse.
He is creatively drawing attention to the 23 clubs whose home grounds can expect to begin suffering from partial or total annual flooding by 2050, according to the Playing Against the Clock report.
Today Football For Future are proud to help launch the latest “flooded” shirt of West Ham United, whose London Stadium is shown to be at risk of flooding from the nearby River Lea in the coming years.
The Creative Director from London said:
“The birth of my son made me think deeply about the future he and my daughter will inherit. I wonder what they’ll think of our generation in years to come if we don’t act now?
“Some of my most joyful moments have come from football, be it playing for Southend United, to the friendships I’ve formed within the game, to writing for independent magazines like Gaffer and Glory, to writing commercials for Tottenham, Arsenal and the Ivory Coast national team, to building a rural pitch in South Africa during the 2010 World Cup.
“I want my children to be able to enjoy the game as much as me, but with an increasing amount of games being called off for issues like flooding, they won’t be able to.
“Nobody can solve these issues alone. We all need to work together. So, it’s an absolute privilege and honour to collaborate with the Football For Future team on this launch. I greatly admire the work they’re doing in this space. For the next shirts, I’d love to collaborate with more of the amazing people and companies who are trying to make a difference, from Plegeball to Art of Football to Football Beyond Borders.”
Playing Against The Clock was written by Football For Future Chief Advisor David Goldblatt for the Rapid Transition Alliance and released in the summer of 2020.
As well as detailing the upcoming threat of flooding to almost a quarter of English football league clubs, the report highlighted the contribution of the sporting industry to carbon emissions and illustrated climate change’s future impact on other sports, including tennis, rugby, athletics and winter sports.
Through Climate Clubs, Kyle and his team have previously created a series of sustainably-produced flags, displaying environmental messages linked with football clubs, which were displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition last year.
Their work has received over 15 million earned media impressions, has been supported by footballers including Chris Smalling and Hector Bellerin and has been inducted into the National Football Museum. Kyle himself is now studying Sustainability at Cambridge University.
Hoping his not-for-profit venture can attract widespread attention to a range of climate issues via football, Kyle added: “My big belief is that football clubs can be more influential forces for good than governments.”
Follow Kyle’s work on his Instagram account here: