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However, Vince has told the Guardian that the group would continue its sporting protests - even if, like Wimbledon, sports did more to stress their environmental credentials. "I don't think the premise for choosing where to protest is based on that kind of criteria," he said. "Is cricket good or bad? I don't think that's the question. It's about how much disruption can we cause, how many headlines can we grab. It's about high-profile stuff. "So if you're a high-profile sport, I would say that probably you might be on the target list. That's my reading of it." Vince, who is also chairman of Forest Green Rovers, stressed that he was not privy to Just Stop Oil's future plans when he spoke before the protests at Wimbledon. But he urged sports fans to accept that a small disruption in play was nothing compared to the havoc being reaped by climate change. "You're going to upset people when you disrupt things, that's for sure," he said. "But look, the cricket was disrupted for three or four minutes. The UN says four million people have lost their lives in the climate crisis so far. Other data shows that 20 million people globally are made homeless every year. Compared to that, a few minutes' delay at a sporting event really is nothing?' Vince accepted that many people might be sympathetic to Just Stop Oil's views, but not their methods. However he said he strongly disagreed with a softly-softly approach. "The most effective protest is a disruptive one," he said. "It is not one where you stand at the side of the road and everything's going on as normal, while you chant and wave placards. That's less effective than when you disrupt everyday life, business as usual. "The point we are trying to make is that there's a big harm happening in the world that is pushed to the background. And if we don't deal with it properly, the global temperature will disrupt life beyond all measures that we have?' Vince insisted that without significant change in global approach - and a change in the UK government - the crisis would only grow. "If you look at the disruption of the Covid lockdowns you can square it or cube it if the climate crisis that's coming if we don't avoid a rise of three degrees," he said. "So it is about shaking people out of sleepwalking, to say that something has to be done about this." "Of course, the real target is the government, who are hellbent on drillirW4ore fossil fuels in the face of all of the science." 475 1014
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