Saints collaborate with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
Southampton Football Club is delighted to announce a new and exciting collaboration with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT), pledging to support the Trust’s vision for a wilder future by becoming a Team Wilder Champion.
As a Team Wilder Champion, the club will help share the importance of creating nature recovery networks within urban areas with their audience, while also taking positive action for nature and wildlife across its Staplewood training ground and St Mary’s stadium.
This action will include biodiversity projects, education and engagement sessions, as well as events such as beach cleans and community litter picking to protect and preserve our natural environment.
Team Wilder is the Trust’s flagship programme which aims to get more people on nature’s side. As part of its Wilder 2030 strategy, the Trust wants to see one in four people connecting with wildlife and taking action for nature.
Only this will be enough to tip the balance in nature’s favour and change the behaviour of the majority.
Our new collaboration with HIWWT will help turn the tide in favour of nature as our employees, Academy, players, and of course our loyal fans and supporters, join us too. The club will be an exemplar of what can happen when we work together.
Earlier this year, the club launched its sustainability strategy, The Halo Effect, and has since taken huge leaps forward for nature.
At Staplewood training ground there has been the introduction of log pile houses, naturally wild hedgerows, non-playing grass areas left to grow and wildflower planting.
Additional tree planting continues to take place across both the training ground and stadium sites, with more going in the ground across the city as part of the club’s Home Grown Initiative; where 250 trees are planted locally every time an Academy player makes their senior debut in the men’s or Women’s first teams.
Biodiversity is being incorporated into the Life Skills curriculum for Saints Academy scholars, alongside an employee and player learning and development programme further showing the commitment to embedding environmental sustainability into its organisational culture.
You can discover and protect wildlife on your doorstep with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust – find out more information at their website.
Find out more about the work Southampton Football Club as part of its Environmental Responsibility here, part of the club’s sustainability strategy, The Halo Effect.
