Growing the Greener Game’s impact with Energy Support Packs

As part of our long-term partnership with The Football Association (The FA), in recent months we’ve been loud and proud about the energy audits we're carrying out for English grassroots football clubs. 

We’ve already helped clubs including Staveley Miners Welfare Football Club, Shefford Sports Club, and Moulton Football Club with recommendations and support for upgrading their energy use through solutions such as rooftop solar, batteries, insulation, and a range of other measures. But this is only one part of the work we and The FA are doing to help English grassroots football clubs reduce both their bills and carbon emissions. Another important piece of the partnership are the Energy Support Packs that we’ve designed to help share our energy saving expertise with clubs around the country. 

What’s in an Energy Support Pack? 

Grassroots clubs stand to gain a lot from improving their energy efficiency, and every pound saved on bills can be reinvested in fixtures, equipment, travel, and all the other ways these organisations serve their communities through sport. That said, it isn’t always easy to know where to begin. 

The Greener Game is intended to help clubs better understand their energy use, and our Energy support Packs offer helpful guides, an ‘energy monitor’ for identifying power hungry devices, a plug-in timer that can be used to schedule off-times for individual devices, plus posters, stickers, and coasters to help encourage club communities to do their bit.  

The helpful guide offers advice on a range of topics, including: 

• Scoring the best energy deal, where we give step-by-step instructions on getting quotes, choosing tariffs, and switching suppliers. 
• Meters, where we share ideas to help make the most of both smart and analogue devices, and advice on making the switch to smart meters for those not already using one. 
• Doing an energy health check, where we give advice on figuring out which devices might be using the most power, including a handy list of areas worth checking and devices worth considering, from lighting and heating to showers and the clubhouse bar. 
• Energy saving actions, where we recommend measures that most clubs can take to reduce their energy use, emissions, and bills. These include small but effective steps such as turning off lights in unoccupied rooms, checking fridge and freezer temperatures, and not overfilling kettles, as well as more significant measures such as wall insulation, window upgrades, and alternative heating systems. 

Over the coming months, we hope to help many more eligible grassroots clubs from Tyne and Wear to Devon and Dorset with audits and high-impact upgrades such as solar installations and batteries. But even commitment to small self-driven changes can make a noticeable difference over time. Alongside future rounds of audits and upgrades, these energy support packs are another way for us to pass on our extensive expertise and help make new energy work for grassroots football clubs and the communities they serve. 

Find out more about Greener Game at the England Football website, here.