Football: Euro 2008 to be "One Big Toilet"
And England aren’t even playing
“The lakeside of Zürich will be one big toilet during the month of June“, remarked my colleague as we discussed the forthcoming Euro 2008 football championship - the highlight for many European sport’s fans until the 2010 Football World Cup - which is being hosted in Switzerland and Austria this year.
Having seen the aftermath last year’s World Cup hosted in Germany, I fully appreciated his warning on the amount of sick, urine and broken glass that is likely to be left in the wake of thousands of high (and sometimes low) spirited fans. Living in the epicentre of this event I’m looking forwards to some aspects of the revelry, although I’ll be closing the shutters on the windows and I’ve increased the insurance on the car should it be turned into a bonfire.
Despite these local environmental issues, major sporting events have an enormous potential for promotion of good causes alongside sporting values, and the organisers of Euro 2008 have made a concerted effort to make sustainability and the environment a key element of the event’s planning. Match tickets will also act as valid tickets for public transport, emissions are being carefully monitored, new developments have been designed with energy efficiency in mind, and literally hundreds of other environmental considerations have been made.
It’s not entirely good news, however. Faced with a shortage of hotel space during the tournament, the Swiss Government have granted permission for airports to operate 24 hours a day such that fans may fly directly home following post match celebrations. Residents are obviously concerned by the noise and the massive emissions caused by thousands of jet-set day-tripping fans. Airline staff are relishing the prospect even less.
And it looks worse for future events - last week, representatives of 35 Ukrainian environmental organisations petitioned their government over planning for the European Championship which they will host in 2012. According to campaigners, current plans make no consideration of environmental management, something on which they are strongly urging a rethink.
In other areas of sport, big efforts are being made to promote green issues. China is working hard to green-up the Olympic games later this year, and even Formula 1 is going hybrid from next year. The world of sport holds plenty to be positive about for environmentalists, which is just as well - my native England, great footballing nation that we are, didn’t even qualify for Euro 2008. For me, spending a month living in a football fuelled battle-zone is only adding insult to injury.
Image credit: Gerej at Flickr under a Creative Commons license
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