'The Prem's our Holy Grail': Just Stop Oil plan to disrupt a Premier League game every weekend this season
7 August 2023, 08:48
Just Stop Oil activists plan to disrupt a Premier League game every weekend this season, as they branded England's top football league their "Holy Grail".
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Protesters will slow march around stadiums before games, before attempting to invade pitches to break up the play.
Premier League games are often watched by millions of people in the UK and around the world on television, so these stunts would likely get a lot of attention.
A top Just Stop Oil activist said: "The Prem’s our Holy Grail. We’re going to go for it.
"We’re looking to mobilise properly so we can target one match every weekend this season.
"We’ll be travelling all over the country."
Just Stop Oil have invaded Premier League games before. Activist Louis McKechnie attached himself to the goalposts with zip ties at an Everton vs Newcastle game in March last year.
McKechnie, who later compared himself to Martin Luther King, was jailed for six weeks for aggravated trespass.
Protesters also disrupted a Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United game, and a match between Arsenal and Liverpool, in March 2022.
The eco-activist revealed the latest Just Stop Oil plans in front of an undercover reporter, who had infiltrated a meeting of the group.
He went on: "It’s all about being organised, getting the people to the games and in the right positions. We can offer more advice on this at a later date."
The man, who is in his 50s, added: "We want to be in a position where people expect disruption. We want to get into the minds of fans, players and staff that each weekend we’ve got something on.
"We’re very organised with our slow marches and we can mobilise like that for the Premier League.“We want to ram home our message."
The unnamed activist went on: "We need to get tighter around our social media planning and around ticket purchasing for the matches.
"We know the clubs will be aware we will be targeting them so we need to stay one step ahead. Once we’re in, there’s a lot of opportunities like glueing ourselves to the ticket turnstiles on the gates. That would cause chaos.
"Or getting on the pitch to glue ourselves to the grass or goalposts. We can slow march in the streets around stadiums on match days to cause local traffic chaos."
Just Stop Oil have been regularly causing chaos with a 13-week round of traffic protests earlier this year.
The group have also disrupted sporting events like the Ashes, Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix and the Snooker World Championship.
