Russell Martin smiles when asked whether anyone he knows will be surprised by his news. “No, I don’t think so,” he replies. “I used to get peppered at Norwich because I was always saying: ‘Turn the tap off’ when the lads brushed their teeth in the changing room. I remember having an argument with Jonny Howson about it one day – I just kept turning the tap off. I was like: ‘What are you doing? You don’t need it on!’”

Martin, a former Scotland defender, has been banging the environmental drum to footballers for a while. Now, however, he has decided to take things a step further by joining the Green party. “I’ve voted Labour all my life,” he says. “But knowing Caroline [Lucas, the former Green party leader and MP for Brighton Pavilion] a little bit, what she stands for, what the party represents, I just thought this aligns with my values and morals.

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“I’ve been a vegan for four years, plant-based, so that awakens you socially to become a lot more conscious about things. I’ll be honest, that wasn’t for ethical reasons at first, it was purely health. I was struggling with ulcerative colitis and I did a lot of research into diet and what could help. But then when you become involved in that it raises your awareness of the ethical side. You actually look at it and think: ‘This makes sense.’”

Martin speaks a lot of sense too and it is an enjoyable hour spent in his company at Walsall’s training ground, where he recently became player-coach after nine years at Norwich. With a cup of green tea in his hand and football largely off the agenda, the 32-year-old talks about everything from Donald Trump’s denial on climate change to his frustration that Iceland’s Christmas TV advert was pulled.

The supermarket’s animated short film, made by Greenpeace, featured an orangutan and the destruction of its rainforest habitat at the hands of palm oil growers. “That’s a fact, that’s what happens,” Martin says. “So why is that banned? Because it’s too political to be an advert? Why can’t we show people what actually happens for them to put palm oil in their shampoo or their peanut butter?”

Martin is a fascinating character. On top of his two roles at Walsall, he has a foundation in his home city of Brighton and regularly returns to work with the children there. He also part-owns Erpingham House, the largest vegan restaurant in the UK, and is enrolled on the League Managers Association’s diploma in football management course.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Russell Martin, in action for Scotland against Germany in 2015, says: ‘I’m past the point of worrying what others think.’ Photograph: Matthias Hangst/Bongarts/Getty Images

With a busy family life on top, it is a wonder he has time for anything else, but looking after the environment is too important to ignore. “There’s stuff we can’t control – the Brexit madness – but there’s stuff that we can have an influence on and help future generations. I’ve got three young kids and I want it to look as good as possible for them by the time they hit my age.”

Martin is doing his bit. As well as his plant-based diet, he owns an electric car, recycles everything he can and promotes sustainability and environmental awareness to the children who pass through his foundation, which started as a football academy but is now a registered charity with a wider remit.

“I wanted to go into more areas: disability football, walking football for the over-55s, and we’re really promoting girls’ football too. The vision is that we have a community hub for our foundation that’s based on what we’re about as an organisation – giving more opportunities to kids from deprived areas and that it becomes sustainable, like Forest Green Rovers on a much smaller scale.”

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Lucas, his local MP, liked what she heard about the foundation and it was after a meeting between the two that Martin, who has long been interested in politics, joined the Green party. Whether he can persuade a few footballers to follow remains to be seen. “I’ve tried to educate lads a little bit over the years,” Martin says. “When an election comes up, the younger boys say: ‘So who are you voting for then, Russ?’ I try and talk them through it and they say: ‘Who are we gonna pay less tax with?’ And then it’s like: ‘Well, it’s not really about that.’ And they’re like: ‘It is!’”

Martin breaks into laughter after that last comment, but there is a serious message to get across when it comes to football and the environment. “Clubs can do a lot more,” he says. “A lot of times it’s bottom of their priorities, which sometimes you understand because they need to win matches. But I think they need to be a bit more socially conscious. At most Premier League clubs, there would be 100-plus bottles being used a day. I’d like to know if they’re being recycled. And I can almost guarantee that most aren’t.”

While it is refreshing listening to Martin speaking so passionately about important issues away from the game, it is tempting to wonder what teammates make of it all. “I’m probably deemed a bit of a weirdo in terms of football,” he says, smiling. “But, to be honest, I’m past the point of worrying what others think. It’s not like: ‘Is it going to harm my employment opportunities because of where I vote and what I stand for?’ If it did, I wouldn’t want to work for those people anyway.”

Although football management, rather than politics, is where Martin sees his future, he has high hopes for the Greens, starting with their target to become the third-biggest party in England. “There’s probably no better time to try and achieve that with everything that’s going on in the world,” he says. “I think some people believe in the Green party’s values and their policies but don’t vote for them because they feel they might waste a vote because they’re not going to get into power. That’s fair enough. But I think that has to change.”