Patrick Bamford has revealed that Marcus Rashford has inspired him to also make a difference off the pitch as well as on it.
Manchester United star Rashford has been relentless in his defence of hungry children over the past year and successfully persuaded the government to make a U-turn over its decision to stop free school meals during lockdown, for which he was awarded an MBE for services to vulnerable children.
Bamford believes that Rashford's brilliant work has shown plenty of his fellow footballers that they can use their voices for positive change.
"I think that Marcus has shown that this year - that you can do so much on the pitch but you can do even more off the pitch and I think that he's kind of set the ball rolling for a lot of us," Bamford told Sky Sports News.
"And I think that's kind of pushed me or kind of given me the impetus to do more and show that I can make a change as well. So hopefully it won't just be me, it will be a lot of people following suit."
Bamford is now partaking in his own activism and is hoping to raise awareness of the impact sporting events have on climate change and hopes to encourage supporters to make changes to help protect the environment.
"You need the environment for sport - think about how many sports are played outside," he added.
"Years ago you saw a lot about bush fires over in different countries and you thought 'oh that's miles away, it's never going to happen in England,' and then recently at the Women's golf championship down in Surrey there were bush fires - that's unheard of in England, so you start thinking this a serious problem, so you've got to start acting."
