Matt Warwick
BBC Sport at the Green Sport Awards

Matt Bracken, founder of the Rhino Cup Champions League, who in 2016 created a football league for marginalised communities in Africa, has won the grassroots award.

A very nice man - with the heart of a lion... and the look of pro-wrestler.

“The game of football is bringing engagement, hope passion and a team unity and the whole community is involved. Football is a by-product… there’s less poaching, more girls staying in school. Football is helping wildlife because it’s helping people.

“Sport has such a role to play in the climate emergency and the decline of species, and whatever else in the environment. You need one ball and you have 22 people plus spectators and everybody coming together for the Rhino Cup Champions League. Knowing this is coming from the wildlife... coming from nature.

“Let us have, at least once a week, compassion, gratitude and pride and just think about where we live and the beautiful things around us all of us, and for us the game of football is bringing that to everybody.

“It's thanks to the wildlife and thanks to nature.”

Image source, Rhino Cup Champions League

This years Grassroots Organisation of the Year was awarded to the Rhino Cup Champions League with co-founder Matt Bracken on stage to receive the award from Springwatch's Lindsey Chapman.

The Rhino Cup Champions League, which was founded in Mozambique in 2016, is an amateur football league for young men and women in rural African communities surrounding national parks and wildlife reserves. The organisation has used the popularity of football to help local communities feel better connected to wildlife conservation and learn about the impacts of climate change. The league harnesses three key emotions - pride, gratitude, and compassion - which can then inspire and empower participants to actively engage in the cause. The RCCL wants to bring in a new era of conservation practices rooted in sustainable development.

The third winner being celebrated tonight will be from the Grassroots Organisation of the Year category.

This is for any amateur or non-professional sporting body that is involved in the organisation of sport at a community level (such as local clubs, teams, groups, associations, national or regional governing organisations and charities) and has proactively demonstrated support for environmental and climate change issues in the past 12 months.

The nominees in this category are:

• Pledgeball
• Rhino Cup Champions League
• Save the Waves Coalition
• The Green Runners
• Vermont Green FC

As tonight's Young Athlete of the Year award winner leaves the stage to a round of applause we now move onto our third award of the night...

Matt Warwick
BBC Sport at Green Sport Awards

I've spoken to Young Athlete of the Year Innes Fitzgerald, who has sacrificed competing at some big races during her early career if she feels the journey is too impactful on the environment.

"I live in a quite a green valley - it’s all a bit wild. At the top of the garden I can see the sea which is pretty amazing.

"At a young age what hit me was walking along the beach where we always go for walks and seeing the plastics and water pollution - everything in shore is what I noticed first, I think.

"Making more ethical travel decisions when better choices are available and taking them [is important] - instead of everyone flying to Paris for the Olympics they can all take the train - it’s an easy win. Hopefully we’ll see, but when races in Europe and easy to get to I think athletes should be making more ethical decisions.

"Also people in power at the sport should be helping to educate others to talk about the climate emergency and speak to young people and athletes and as well as older ones about the issues at hand and allow them to voice concerns and take that into consideration."

Image source, Getty Images

This year's Young Athlete of the Year winner is cross-country runner Innes FitzGerald, who is collecting her award from Chemmy Alcott and Joe Cooke.

The English Schools cross-country champion, FitzGerald made the bold choice to decline the chance to compete in this year's World Championships in Australia. In a letter to British Athletics, the 17-year-old said her decision was based on her concern about the impact of flying at a time when people around the world are suffering the effects of climate change. She uses her platform to encourage other athletes to question their choices, use their platforms to raise awareness, and actively engage in conversations about climate issues.

The second winner to receive their award tonight will be from the Young Athlete of the Year category.

This is for a sportsperson aged 21 or under who is either professional or on a pathway to elite sport and has proactively demonstrated support for environmental and/or climate change issues.

The nominees in this category are:

• Alayna Burns
• Ellen Donald
• Innes FitzGerald
• Anna Hursey
• Belle Pellecchia

And now it's time for the second award of the night...

Image source, Getty Images

Announced earlier today, the winner of the Elite Organisation award is Forest Green Rovers and their chairman Dale Vince is here to collect his award.

Since Dale Vince bought a majority stake in the club in 2010, Forest Green Rovers have been on a mission to not only climb the football ladder, but do so as one of the most sustainable clubs in the world. In 2017, football's world governing body Fifa described the League Two side as the "greenest football club in the world", and in 2018 they became the United Nations' first certified carbon-neutral football club. They continue to push to become even more sustainable, and in the past year have focused on switching to greener travel options for the team and fans, while continuing to work on the Eco Park development that will house their new stadium.

The first of the winners to receive their award tonight will be from the Elite Organisation of the Year category.

This is for any professional or high-performance sports organisation/sporting body that is involved in the organisation or planning of competitive sport (such as teams, clubs, associations, federations, competitions, championships and national governing bodies) and has proactively demonstrated support for environmental and climate change issues in the past 12 months.

The nominees in this category are:

• Forest Green Rovers FC
• Formula E
• Richmond Football Club
• International Biathlon Union
• ATP Tour

And now it is time for the first award of the night so let's get going shall we?

Director of BBC Sport Barbara Slater said of the nominees: “It’s fantastic to see so many amazing names on our Green Sport Powerlist for 2023. Not only have these athletes made an impact through their sport on the field, but they have challenged the status quo off the field. All of the nominees are leading the way in being more sustainable and environmentally aware and encouraging other to do the same.”

The nominees for this year's awards were announced on 25 September and formed a shortlist of five in each of the Athlete of the Year, Young Athlete of the Year, Elite Organisation and Grassroots Organisation categories.

We'll be listing them through the evening, but if you want to find out more about each then you can have a read here

Qasa Alom has taken to the stage as he introduces this year's awards, so let's find out who was nominated...

So who was in charge of picking the winners for this year's Green Sport Awards?

After the nominees were shortlisted, a panel of independent experts in climate and environment issues from inside and outside the BBC judged the winner of each category.

Athlete categories

Justin Rowlatt - BBC environment editor

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson - Member of the House of Lords and Paralympian

Leilani Munter - Evergreen award winner, BBC Green Sport Awards 2022

Matthew Campelli - Founder and editor of the Sustainability Report

Organisation categories

Claire Poole -Sport Positive Summit founder and CEO

Frances Deft - BBC sustainability programme manager

Madeleine Orr - Loughborough University sport ecologist

Lindita Xhaferi-Salihu - United Nations sectors engagement lead

Mie Kajikawa - Sport For Smile founder

As the ceremony kick-off is not far away, it's time to turn our attention to this year's awards...

Presenter and journalist Qasa Alom is ready for tonight's celebrations and will take to the stage shortly to get the awards under way.