On Saturday 15 March, Extinction Rebellion Cymru staged a rugby-themed action before the Wales vs. England Six Nations rugby match at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium:
Six Nations protest over its sponsors wrecking the planet
Activists staged a mock rugby match wearing snorkels and flippers to signify the danger of increased flooding, caused by the climate crisis, to rugby pitches. Their match was accompanied by drummers and comedy commentary:
This was to protest the fact that insurers Howden, who provide cover to fossil fuel projects, are investing heavily in rugby sponsorship. Welsh and English Rugby Unions are reciprocating by recommending Howden as the insurers of choice to grassroots rugby clubs in England and Wales.
Howdens are also shirt sponsors for this year’s British and Irish Lions Tour, kicking off in Dublin in June.
This sponsorship is part of a wider trend. Twickenham was recently renamed the Allianz stadium in a £100m sponsorship deal with the insurance giant.
The Extinction Rebellion “Insure our Survival” campaign has been targeting insurance companies who make money by providing cover for the fossil fuel industry. Demonstrations have occurred across the country over the past two years, including at insurance market Lloyds of London.
The “Rugby and climate change” report by World Rugby highlights the dangers to the sport posed by the climate crisis. Environmentalists are concerned that sports like rugby will continue to be impacted as the climate crisis deepens:
Enough already
Jo Brown who took action at the Six Nations said:
Rugby fans may not realise that their clubs are being sponsored by insurance companies who have no interest in preserving our planet for the future, yet they get the benefit of publicity from being on our shirts. I don’t want my club and my game to be associated with companies who are complicit in wrecking our children’s future.
Mary Smith was also there. She added:
We want the companies who sponsor our game to clean up their act and not just green wash it. I would like to see rugby dissociate from fossil fuels and support a sustainable future. Ideally the government would halt new oil and gas licences and rugby would be sponsored by renewable energy companies.
Marcus Bailie said:
The climate crisis poses a grave threat to rugby, as it does with everything we hold dear. With each additional fraction of a degree of global warming, stadiums will be underwater more and more often. Though it’s grassroots clubs that will face the brunt of these impacts, as they don’t have the resources to bounce back as easily.
Mining and then burning coal, oil and gas – fossil fuels – is the biggest single cause of climate change. These dirty projects are only possible due to insurers such as Howden and Allianz, who sponsor games like rugby in order to improve their image, and cover up the climate damage they are facilitating.
Sports as we know it is also threatened by high temperatures, with future games set to need more breaks for hydration and heat exhaustion, or needing to be cancelled altogether.
The fossil fuel industries are making sure that civilisation is heading into the climate crisis with our foot planted firmly on the accelerator.
Howden must stop insuring all fossil fuel projects or else the Rugby Unions and grassroots supporters must look for a sponsor elsewhere.
Featured image and additional images supplied
