Is This What THE FUTURE Looks Like?

THEY DON'T SELL MEAT. THEY DON'T BURN CARBON. THEY DO HAVE A SOLAR-POWERED ROBOT. FOREST GREEN ROVERS ARE THE GREENEST TEAM IN SPORTS. OWNER DALE VINCE SAYS IT'S TIME FOR THE BIG CLUBS TO CATCH UP

- JOHN GONZALEZ

IT'S AN ODD spot for the future of sports, tucked away atop a hill in the English countryside, two hours west of London. Nailsworth is a quaint little town with a population just north of 5,700. Cottages dot the rolling landscape, bordered by stone walls and neatly manicured hedges and lush green trees with mushroom-shaped tops so thick and perfect they look like an artist's rendering. On the drive into town on this sunny but brisk October morning, a cow stops in the opposite lane, shuts down traffic and refuses to move, despite the honking protests.

I ask our photographer, Tom-a delightful lad from London who kindly shuttles us both out here so I don't have to drive on the left side of the road, thus avoiding an international incident what he'd do if he lived in a place like this.

"I guess I'd play a lot of golf."

"Do you golf?"

"No, but you'd have to take it up, wouldn't you?"

All of which is to say that Nailsworth is not without its charms. But it's an unexpected place for a professional sports team that has garnered global attention. That squad, Forest Green Rovers, has dubbed itself the greenest soccer club on Earth and everyone agrees, from the big boys two levels up in the Premier League to the United Nations, which certified FGR as the world's first carbon-neutral club.