New partnership between E.ON and The FA working to decarbonise the beautiful game

Since its founding in 1962, the Staveley Miners Welfare Football Club in Derbyshire has been through all the highs and lows of the beautiful game – goals scored and conceded, victories and defeats, promotions and relegations – and during those more than sixty years it’s continued to serve the local community, bringing sport and social contact to thousands of people, including the 500 kids who use the club’s 3G pitch every week.

But like hundreds of other clubs playing just as important roles in their local communities across England, Staveley has been facing challenges when it comes to energy.

Whether it’s through floodlights that can cost hundreds of pounds per match to operate, showers, heating, or keeping refreshments cold in the bar, running a football club needs a lot of power, and with energy prices skyrocketing in recent years, it’s become considerably more expensive. At the same time, community clubs are especially aware of their responsibilities both to local communities and to future generations, and many are keen to do their bit for the energy transition.

That’s why we’ve partnered with The FA to launch the Greener Game programme. Over the next four years we’ll be working together to provide energy audits, club house upgrades, and energy support packs to help community clubs across the country save money and reduce their emissions, and Staveley Miners Welfare FC is among the first clubs we’re helping.

Helping Staveley Miners Welfare FC cut emissions and save money

In July of this year we sent an audit team from E.ON Control Solutions to the site where Staveley Miners Welfare FC has been based since 1993, and there was no shortage of ways we could help the club save money and reduce its carbon footprint.

From Staveley’s floodlit pitch to its car parking, clubhouse and shop, changing facilities, stand, toilets, classroom, gym, and scoreboard building, our auditors were looking for improvements and upgrades in a broad range of areas, including:

• Installing LED fittings
• Upgrading insulation
• Cleaning coils and heat exchangers
• Fitting or repairing local controls
• Replacing windows
• Installing a solar thermal system
• Turning off equipment more effectively when not in use

While some of these improvements may seem small, taken together they represent a potential overall estimated energy saving of 34,281kWh. That’s a reduction of £8,913 a year from the club’s bills, and 7.03 tons of Co2 from their emissions.

For a grassroots club like Staveley, having an additional £8,913 available each year means hosting more home games, more opportunities for investment in the club’s 28 teams and wider community programmes, more training and education, and more opportunities for people young and old to enjoy the beautiful game.

More than this, helping clubs across the country find similar savings on their energy bills will help ensure the future of grassroots football in England for years to come, and, by giving clubs a role to play in the energy transition, help ensure the future of the planet as well.

Achieving net zero will need participation from all corners of society. From households to businesses, scientific institutions to sports clubs, energy suppliers to government, we all have a part to play.

It’s on us to make new energy work, and that’s we why we want to keep collaborating with organisations such as The FA and departments in government to secure future funding for this and similar projects, helping the UK achieve its climate goals in every town and at every level.