Photo: joshjdss via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
Vegan Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin has bought into Forest Green Rovers, becoming the second-largest shareholder in the League Two club that serves nothing but plant-based food to its players and fans. The deal was announced on Tuesday, September 8.
The Gloucestershire club, chaired by green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince, is already famous for its vegan menu, its solar panels and its organic pitch. Bellerin's stake is a minority holding, and the 25-year-old will work with Vince on taking the club's environmental message to the wider game.
Bellerin told Sky Sports why he chose Forest Green:
It's important that I invest in things I am passionate about
Vince was just as happy to have him on board: "I like Hector's approach, his personal journey and the things he's trying to do - they make sense."
The Spaniard went vegan in 2017 and has spoken often about what it has done for his body. In 2018 he told Goal that problems with his ankles had cleared up since changing his diet: "Now I don't even have to strap them to play anymore." He has also been clear that it is a considered choice for a top-level athlete: "As a professional athlete you have to be technical with what you eat."
It's a busy summer for Bellerin, who won his third FA Cup with Arsenal last month. Forest Green, meanwhile, became the first football club certified carbon-neutral by the UN back in 2018, and fellow vegan defender Chris Smalling went fully vegan the same year.
A Premier League footballer putting his own money into a vegan club. Powered by plants.