At Legend Soccer Company in Whitefish, the owners believe environmental sustainability is a winning strategy. The maker of bamboo shin guards recently started a partnership with the Forest Green Rovers soccer club in England, which has been dubbed the “world’s most sustainable pro soccer club.”

“We’re just super passionate about the game,” said Sean Person, who started the company two years ago with Roland Benedict. “We’re excited to contribute something positive to the game.”

After playing soccer all their lives, Person and Benedict — who met on a traveling men’s team — returned home to the Flathead Valley and launched Legend Soccer Company. The company produces a bamboo shin guard that is both “high performance and sustainable.”

“Legend’s new innovative shin guards are strong, lightweight, odorless, sustainable, made in the USA and fully customizable,” Person said in an email.

“It’s a sustainable version of the plastic shin guard that’s been available for the last 40 years,” he explained. He estimated plastic shin guards have produced about 200 million pounds of plastic in the past four decades, so he and Benedict were interested in improving the equipment’s environmental impact and quality.

Legend partners with soccer clubs all over the world and sells shin guards to local soccer players and pros alike, but Person said the new partnership with the Forest Green Rovers is a unique development for the company and its commitment to environmental sustainability.

“This one particularly is just a great fit for us,” Person said.

He said Legend’s bamboo shin guard “fits in really well with their whole philosophy.”

The club, whose chairman, Dale Vince, runs the electricity company Ecotricity, has implemented a number of earth-friendly initiatives that match Legend’s interest in sustainability. Its stadium is powered by wind and solar power; the menu is all vegan; the field is fertilized by seaweed and the players wear bamboo jerseys.

“They’re doing things that even the big clubs with endless resources aren’t doing,” Person said of the team, which is in League Two, or the fourth tier of English soccer. “They’re representing sustainability in sport. They’re putting it toward the most popular sport over there.”

With the new partnership, Legend now provides bamboo shin guards to the men’s and women’s professional teams, as well as the affiliated youth programs.

“We supply their entire program,” Person said.

The partnership has been in the works for about four months, and as part of the deal, Person and Benedict had the chance to attend a home match at The Forest Green Rovers’ stadium, known as “The New Lawn,” in December. The opportunity gave the soccer players-turned-businessmen a chance to see all of the club’s sustainability efforts in action.

It was a unique opportunity for the soccer enthusiasts, who continue to coach soccer and develop more products focused on environmentalism. Benedict coaches the girls’ team at Whitefish High School, and Person coaches the boys’ team, which recently won back-to-back state championships.

“I’m proud to see the game progress, especially in Montana,” Person said. While soccer hasn’t always been the most popular sport in the state, he said he sees the popularity growing substantially, and he and Benedict are grateful to be able to run their company locally. Legend sources its bamboo from all across the country and the world, but they do all of their fulfillment—including customer service, assembly and custom engraving—in Whitefish.

“It’s very, very rare, a Montana-based soccer company,” he pointed out. “We’re excited to be able to operate this type of business in a place we love. We don’t have to move away to a city. We can represent here.”

And as the sport grows in the local community, Person said Legend is committed to increasing the game’s overall impact. “We’re excited to contribute something positive to the game,” he said.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.