Leading sports and climate expert David Goldblatt joins Zellar’s advisory committee
British writer, academic, journalist and activist to help Zellar lead the change in sport.
Co-founder and chair of sustainability charity, Football For Future, David Goldblatt, has been appointed to Zellar’s advisory committee.
David will help Zellar to hone and deliver its message to sports, leisure and community clubs – a critical element of its wider mission to activate sustainability across 250,000+ SMEs, schools and community organisations by 2027.
David is a perennial campaigner for environmental sustainability in sport, and over the last two years has written and spoken widely on sport and the climate crisis. He is a widely published author and journalist, with work spanning numerous publications, including the Guardian, Financial Times, BBC and New Statesman.
In 2020, David authored Playing Against the Clock: Global Sport and Climate Change, which called for a root and branch transformation of the sports industry, to address its contribution towards climate change. As a result David has gone on to advise and train numerous sporting corporations, including SKY, FIFA and ITV on the role of sport in climate change.
David commented:
‘I’m a great believer that the most powerful agent for change is education. By giving others the knowledge to understand the past and the present, they can then start to reimagine the future. Zellar can play a valuable role here by giving every business, school and club across the UK the insights they need to be able to build a more sustainable future. I’m really excited by the impact we can make together.’’
CEO, and co-founder at Zellar, Gary Styles commented:
“David is exactly the type of person we need to help us to reach our goals. He’s a teacher, a storyteller, and someone who is passionate about asking questions and provoking change. His expertise in climate and sports will be crucial to helping Zellar to engage with and inspire clubs of all shapes and sizes that are at the hearts of our communities.’’
In 1992 David completed a PhD at the University of Cambridge Social Theory and the Environment, which was published as a book by Polity Press in 1996. He is the author of two seminal football cultural history books: The Ball is Round and The Game of Our Lives, which won William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2015. His career has spanned multiple roles - from university sociology professor at Bristol University and Pitzer College to documentary producer and award-winning journalist.