From professional footballer to friend of the Earth; that’s the journey of ex Manchester United defender Richard Eckersley. In 2009, Eckersley won a medal as a squad member named to the Red Devils bench for their League Cup Final triumph. In 2017, he’s a vegan owner of the United Kingdom’s first zero waste food shop.
His appearance has also changed drastically since his playing days.
The BBC writes of Eckersley and his shop in the quaint Devon town of Totnes.
“Once I found out football was just a sport, and not the be all and end all, I think my passion for it died a bit,” he told BBC Sport.
“I was ready to leave football when I left, 100%. I think the time was right – I didn’t want to prolong the dream.”
Eckersley played alongside such greats as Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford, but soon realized that he was never going to be on the same plane as them. He made his first team debut in an FA Cup fixture at home to Tottenham, coming on as a 53rd-minute substitute.
His league debut came, when he was subbed on as a 71st-minute substitute for Gary Neville in a 5–0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
Today, sporting a more hippy and crunchy look, his life is extremely different.
“I’m sweeping floors, I’m mopping, I’m doing all these other things that generally footballers wouldn’t do, and I’m working in there all the time,” Eckersley said of life in his shop, via the BBC.
“Football’s incredible in the sense that it connects people all over the world – there’s so many fans out there that are so passionate about football, but if we don’t have a planet to live on, and it’s not thriving and it’s not healthy, then football doesn’t matter, it doesn’t make a difference any more.”
He’s right you know- there is no bigger and better cause one can devote his or herself to than saving Mother Earth and fighting climate change. How can you not root for this guy?
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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