New trophy for Premier League’s excessive flyers

Campaign for Better Transport and Fossil Free Football have teamed up to create a new Premier League trophy which will be ironically awarded to teams for their ‘outstanding contributions to football’s carbon footprint’.

The Black Boot Trophy aims to raise awareness of the fact that over half of Premiership teams fly to domestic away games and to try and shame them into stopping.

Research carried out last year revealed that Premier League clubs took 80% of their journeys by plane. The average journey time was 42 minutes, with the shortest flight just 27 minutes.

Domestic flights create 246g of CO2 per passenger kilometre travelled and cause seven times more emissions than rail travel.

Michael Solomon Williams from the transport charity said: ‘Domestic flights are simply bad news for the planet, especially when the same journey could be taken by train or coach.

‘Changing the way we travel is one of the most effective things we can do to reduce carbon emissions. Football clubs should be leading the way and playing a bigger role in our fight against climate change.”

Peter Crisp from Fossil Free Football said that ‘football relies on a safe climate but is already threatened by more extreme weather as the world heats up. Top clubs need to show which side they’re on when it comes to fossil fuel pollution and that means acknowledging that short haul flights can’t be part of the game in 2024’.

The campaign will encourage teams to start taking relatively small journeys by coach or train and teams taking flights which the organisers deem unnecessary will be presented with a Black Boot.

Throughout the season, the worst offenders will be called out on both Black Boot’s X account and their website, with ‘Player of the Season’, ‘Man of the Match’, and ‘Team of the Month’ awards up for grabs. 

Fans are being asked to keep an eye out for players’ and clubs’ social feeds, and let Black Boot know whenever they spot something.