Football pundit Lee Dixon appeared to doubt the existence of the climate crisis during commentary of Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday.
Dixon was working on US network NBC’s coverage of the Premier League game when he began a whimsical conversation with lead commentator Peter Drury about modern goalkeepers no longer wearing caps in sunny weather.
“Why don’t goalkeepers wear caps any more?” the former Arsenal and England defender asked. “Has the sun changed since the 70s?”
Drury agreed that you don’t see “as many as you used to”.
Dixon added: “All goalies used to wear caps when it was sunny, and now you’ve got global warming, allegedly...”
A study by Cornell University last year concluded that more than 99 per cent of scientific literature was in agreement over human-caused climate change by the burning of fossil fuels, while the United Nations’ IPCC report found “it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land”.
Dixon is not the only former footballer sceptical of scientific concensus.
Matt Le Tissier, who has more than half a million Twitter followers, became a controversial figure on social media during the pandemic after questioning the Covid-19 vaccine and lockdown restrictions. Le Tissier also recently admitted he was wrong to tweet conspiracy theories about the Russian army’s masscare of civillians in Ukraine.
Drury eventually concluded that fewer goalkeepers wear caps because modern football stadiums are larger than they used to be, and so block out the sun.
