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Thursday 11th November 2021 | PALATINATE
Sport
Durham Women lose out to experienced Man City side
Abi Curran in Manchester Sport Editor
Durham lost 3-0 to an experienced Manchester City side who bagged two late goals to seal the win. The Academy Stadium hosted a youthful visiting Durham squad where talent for the future shone against national and Olympic stars. For a native Mancunian like myself, making the trip over to my beloved blue half of Manchester and not supporting the sky-blue clad team was definitely a different e perience. However, once you have fallen for Durham Women as a club, it is near impossible to not root for the Wildcats. It was a brisk evening in North West, the Manchester City faithful were out claiming territory at the media stand with various City Women flags. ot pies were in demand and scarves were a staple in the Academy Stadium which was framed by Diwali fireworks and its parent Etihad Stadium. The Wildcats are currently holding their own in the Championship sitting top of the table. Over in the cup, with
one eye on upcoming fi tures in the league, Durham had the opportunity to give less experienced players a chance to develop their game. urham fielded a side with youngsters Lily Crosthwaite, Grace Ayre and Hannah Greenwood all making starting appearances. Georgia Nicholson would come on from the bench and under the lights they delivered, not looking out place in the much changed eleven. Durham’s defence remained stubborn for much of the first half, providing Manchester City with a sense of frustration. The deadlock was broken upon the sixteenth minute with a moment of quality from Fillipa Angeldahl. A formidable counter attack led to the number 12 beautifully striking the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. There were also glimpses of potential and clever play from Durham. Runs from Lily Crosthwaite in behind tested the City back line in the first half with the young forward gracefully dribbling through swarms of sky blue shirts in dangerous areas. Despite these moments Durham failed to test Karima
Benameur Taieb, City’s third choice goalkeeper. Though in the other net Megan Borthwick put on a stunning goalkeeping performance denying City multiple times. Alongside an Ellie Christon clearance off the line, this was making to be a gritty defensive performance from the Wildcats. Into the second half, Durham made changes adding experience and youth to the red shirt Wildcats side. Sarah Robson joined skipper Wilson in central defence which could only be described as a telepathic defensive partnership. Playmaker Beth Hepple was brought on inside the 58th minute to add an injection of attacking vigour but Durham struggled to get out of their own half for much of the second 45. Another textbook Borthwick diving save led to a training ground corner drill from Manchester City Women. The ball bumbled and fell to Caroline Weir just inside the box who thumped it home to double the lead on her 100th City appearance. By the 89th minute, Janine Beckie made it three, the final score line not uite reflective of
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the defensive shift put in by the Wildcats. Speaking to Palatinate after the game, manager Lee Sanders spoke of the value of giving younger players the experience of playing against a top side like Manchester City, “I think it can’t give them anything but confidence. “What an unbelievable night that they have had and it gives them that inspiration to say look, this is what I want to do, this is what I really want to concentrate on, this is what I can make a living from”. Sanders paid particular attention to Grace Ayre’s defensive display at left-back and spoke of his decision to rest
(Manchester City FC) players in preparation for their following league game against Crystal Palace. “When we put out the starting line-up there was a lot of people that probably looked and thought this could be a bit heavy, so fair play to them I thought they have conducted themselves unbelievably well.” After an unfortunate 3-1 loss on the road against Crystal Palace last Saturday, Durham will continue their quest for promotion in this Sunday’s Championship game against Liverpool. The top two Championship sides will meet at what is expected to be a packed Maiden Castle.
Sport must act to tackle climate change Hannah Davies The COP26 summit began in Glasgow on 31st October, marking the start of a series of important discussions between world leaders about climate change, and how change can be made in all aspects of life in order to tackle it. Signs of the damage of climate change on sport have become more frequent in recent years. Extreme weather events like typhoons, bush fires and heat waves have disrupted sporting events from tennis and rugby tournaments, to athletics and winter sports in the Olympics. It is estimated that by 2050, one in four English football league grounds will experience
regular, yearly flooding. lthough issues like these can be attributed to the wider problem of rising global temperatures, sports have also been put in the spotlight for ways in which they can often damage the environment through their emissions. This is of course also due to the failure of those in charge to fully address climate change in a meaningful way.
Claims by football teams that they are trying to improve their environmental impact appear hypocritical In the same week that the English football league launched their environmental sustainability scheme, Premier League team Manchester United used an
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aeroplane to fly 10 minutes to their game in Leicester instead of taking a coach, emitting 10 times as much CO2 into the atmosphere as a result. Despite defending their behaviour by blaming congestion on the M6, these actions are inexcusable and make any claims by football teams that they are trying to improve their environmental impact appear hypocritical. Even more of an effect is made by hordes of fans coming to watch each game – at full capacity, 76,000 fans travel to Old Trafford, and little is done to encourage fans to use public transport instead of cars. Foods served on match days are mainly meat-based options and this worsens the environmental impact – an issue that League Two team Forest Green Rovers solved by providing an entirely vegan menu for players and fans. Participation in events on a global scale, such as the Champions League, Euros or World Cup are the worst offenders for a club’s emissions, as not only do teams travel abroad by aeroplane, they are also followed by huge numbers of fans, emitting tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Other global sporting events, such as the Olympics, pose a
similar issue for the environment. In order to continue to compete and participate in sports with other nations. Yet, if sports want to guarantee continuation long into the future, they need to ensure the environmental conditions in the countries involved don’t deteriorate to an extent that they can no longer safely compete there. Although this is a complicated issue to solve, the very least that can be done is encouraging fans to use public transport, utilising rail or coach travel over planes where possible, and offsetting carbon emissions when they can’t be avoided. Another sport that has been pointed to as being one of the worst for its environmental impact is motorsports, particularly Formula One. A sport centred on the highspeed consumption of fuel, alongside the transport of the F1 circus around the globe on a regular basis, unsurprisingly emits over 256,000 tonnes of carbon yearly. One redeeming statistic is that with key sponsors comprised of oil companies and car manufacturers, any attempts to improve their environmental impact are heavily influenced by those who have the biggest financial incentive for things to
stay the way they are. Developments in green technology and turbo hybrid engines have improved the sustainability of F1, but these developments can’t be translated into any real world benefits. That being said, attempts to marry the sport with environmental issues like Formula E and Extreme E may provide a way forward for motorsports to continue in harmony as opposed to war with the health of our planet. Fully electric cars in both of these sports have proven capable, yet less popular with current fans – a roadblock to change that we are likely to see across sports as they modify to improve their environmental impact. During the conference, members of the Sports for Climate Action Framework agreed to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 – a positive step and bold commitment to the environment. However, far more is needed from leaders if the damage of the worsening climate crisis is going to be prevented. A delicate balancing act between reducing their impact whilst preserving and pleasing fanbases will have to be maintained, but if successful, can promote environmental sustainability on a global stage.
