MEAT-FREE Forest  Green are hosting a Conference League match dedicated to The Vegan Society.

On World Vegan Day, November 1, the Vanarama Conference club will dedicate the fixture with Lincoln City to The Vegan Society, with only vegan food on sale in the hospitality suites.

Dane Vince, stadium manager said: “Here at Forest Green Rovers we are looking forward to celebrating with The Vegan Society for their 70th birthday. We are introducing a special menu for the day to raise awareness. It’s about promoting the football and welcoming Vegan Society members.”

The world’s first professional vegan footballer will also be appearing at the event to give a half time talk to gathered fans. Neil Robinson was born close to Everton’s ground in Liverpool in 1957 and was already vegetarian when he joined the Goodison Park club at 16. His move to Swansea City in 1980 coincided with switching to a vegan lifestyle. Since retiring from professional football in 1990 Neil has been on a nationwide tour, giving a variety of talks at major events across the country.

The pitch on which Neil will stand to give his half-time talk is the world’s first organic pitch and it is kept in perfect condition thanks to a special compost tea feed and the club’s rainwater harvesting system. The office lighting is powered by solar panels and the floodlights uses electricity from Ecotricity. The grass is cut by a robotic mower also powered by solar panels. Rovers have plans to replace their current floodlights with arrays of LED bulbs that will reduce energy consumption by as much as 60 per cent..

The Vegan Society 70th celebration cake will be made by Leicester cake company ‘The Vegan Cakery’. The Vegan Cakery has been Vegan Society Trademark holders for over two years and donate all their income to rescue and animal advocate organisations.

Vegan Society CEO, Jasmijn de Boo said: “We are very grateful to Forest Green Rovers and their parent company Ecotricity for inviting us to join them for this ‘first of it’s kind’ match, to celebrate the founding of a movement that is growing at an astonishing rate. I’m looking forward to cheering on Forest Green Rovers and hope that they have a extremely successful season leading to a much-deserved promotion to The Football League in 2015.”