Former Australia captain David Pocock has been named Athlete of the Year at the BBC Green Sport Awards.
Pocock, 34, is the first recipient of the award which recognises a professional sportsperson who has advocated for, raised awareness of, or instigated action on environmental and/or climate change issues in the past 12 months.
A passionate activist on climate change, Pocock led The Cool Down initiative, which resulted in more than 300 athletes writing an open letter to the Australian government encouraging bolder action.
Born in Zimbabwe, Pocock began playing rugby at the age of eight, and his family relocated to Australia when he was 14.
After breaking into the professional game with Western Force, he would go on to win 83 caps for the national side between 2008 and 2019.
Since retiring from rugby in 2020, he has become a politician in his home country – making history by becoming the first independent senator in the Australian Capital Territory. That made him the first sportsperson to transition into politics on a purely environmental platform.
His drive for change and professional profile have enabled him to support a range of climate and sustainable agriculture campaigns and organisations in both Australia and Zimbabwe.
Pocock received his award from Australia cricketer Pat Cummins – who was also nominated.
Cummins, who captains Australia’s Test team, has launched Cricket for Climate, which is encouraging more than 4,000 local clubs to use solar power.
It is this type of action from fellow athletes Pocock feels can make the difference going forward.
“Sport has such a powerful role in terms of the storytelling,” he said. “How do we all act? How do we play our part?
“Through sport you can reach a different audience and actually tell stories about not just the problems, but also the solutions.
“You don’t have to be a climate scientist to just want climate action and to be actually moving in the right direction and building a future that’s liveable and good for our kids and their kids.”
Balancing his on-field performances with advocacy work was never going to be an easy task, and in 2017 Pocock took a sabbatical from rugby.
“There’s definitely a process of building up the confidence to actually do that [talk about issues], but then feeling like I knew enough to actually talk about things.
“The other side is you’ve got to be performing, because then as soon as you start talking about something outside of your sport, you open yourself up to criticism.
“The reality is, this is a big problem that none of us want but we all have to be part of the solutions. And so it’s going to take some pretty uncomfortable conversations and more and more people recognising that we’ve all got a role to play in some way.”
So what is the new Green Sport Athlete of the Year’s message?
“On climate change, I’d probably say to people get involved. Rather than getting cynical and checking out, get involved, find people in your school, in your neighbourhood who are interested in doing something. Act locally, but then also push your local politicians and your national politicians to get going.
“We don’t have any time to waste and I think it’s really exciting what we can actually build together.”
