Bright orange protest at Lord’s was polite and not up for long but highlighted sport’s sponsorship deals amid climate crisis
The rain came to Lord’s just after two in the afternoon. As the players walked briskly from the pitch, and the spectators popped their umbrellas or started to scurry for cover, a huge orange banner dropped down from the top tier of the Edrich Stand. “JP Morgan,” it read. “Stop bankrolling new oil and gas”. The font “JP Morgan” was written in matched the one used on the sponsored hoardings either side. The firm, which is the world’s leading investor in the exploration of new fossil fuels, has been MCC’s main corporate partner for the past decade and its branding is plastered all over the ground.
It wasn’t the first time there’s been a protest at Lord’s, but it was the first in a long while when anyone has managed to smuggle a banner in past the stewards or, perhaps, been willing to pay for tickets to do it. Protesters here in recent years have tended to stay outside the gates, or in one case, in 2008, chained themselves to them.
