Tottenham and Newcastle have agreed to fly to the other side of the world to play against each other three days after the Premier League concludes.
It is a sentence which sounds ludicrous on first reading, but is also very much in keeping with the ethos of the modern era: more football at all costs. The match will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on May 22, just days after Spurs conclude their season away at Sheffield United and Newcastle travel to Brentford.
The match must be worth an awful lot of money to both clubs to make up for its remarkable inconvenience. Spurs must really love their Australian fans to make a 21,000-mile round trip for a one-off friendly when the majority of those involved would probably rather be on the beach at the end of a gruelling campaign. Newcastle are sticking around for another two days to play an A-League All Stars side at the same ground.
Bruno Guimaraes has already played 46 times this season for club and country. By the end of the Premier League season he will likely have racked up another 12 appearances for Newcastle and Brazil. He will then be asked to make a 21-hour trip to Australia to play another couple of games. Like many involved, he will then look ahead to a summer playing in the Copa America, while others will feature in Euro 2024.
It is quite obviously preposterous – and you can imagine the players and their representatives might not be best pleased about the bright idea. Amusingly, according to The Times, who broke the story, Newcastle were only approached after Chelsea beat Leicester on Sunday to give them a shot at reaching the FA Cup final on May 25, thereby ruling themselves out of this charade.
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But leaving aside the obvious point of player welfare – which admittedly is hard to do, given quite how silly the whole thing is – there is another factor to consider. Clubs are acutely aware of how they are perceived from the outside, by their supporters and others. So surely they must have taken into consideration the environmental impact of flying 21,000 miles to play 90 minutes of football.
In response to questions from Mirror Football, a Tottenham spokesperson said they measure all travel emissions and "where possible identify sustainable team travel options". They added that they try to reduce flying and travel all distances under two and a half hours by coach. But the club's official press release made no mention of the environmental considerations and instead carried jubilant quotes from chief football officer, Scott Munn, who had flown to Melbourne to announce the fixture. Newcastle opted not to comment.
The heat clubs felt during the short-haul domestic flight saga last year showed that fans do care. They expect their clubs to abide by their promises. Tottenham have signed up for the UN Race to Zero campaign, which commits them to halving their carbon emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero carbon by 2040. The club proudly trumpeted the news last May that they finished joint-top of the Sport Positive league, which ranks how green Premier League clubs are.
The players are surely going to be exhausted (Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! What do you make of the plans to play a one-off friendly in Melbourne? Comment below.
Spurs have been leading the sector in many respects when it comes to sustainability, but the decision to play a single match in Melbourne shows once again the disconnect between departments at football clubs. On the one hand they are working hard on sustainability initiatives and on engaging their fans, and on the other they are focused on commercial benefits. The Times notes that Newcastle are keen to 'increase their global appeal'. In the end, money always comes first.
When Tottenham say one of their core policies is to “promote alternative forms of transport for fans and staff to and from the stadium and training centre that have a reduced impact on the environment” and also fly to Australia so that their manager can have a homecoming game, they open themselves up to accusations of hypocrisy and risk undermining the good work being done elsewhere.
Tottenham and Newcastle are damaging their own reputations as much as they are the environment by participating in this ridiculous match.
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