Stourbridge FC has become one of the early beneficiaries of The Greener Game, a national retrofit programme from England Football and E.ON Next that is pushing small-scale energy infrastructure into the everyday estate of community sport.
At the West Midlands club, that has meant solar panels on the clubhouse and facilities following an energy audit and follow-up report from E.ON Next. For clubs operating on tight weekly budgets, where utilities can consume money that would otherwise go into coaching, maintenance, and youth activity, that kind of upgrade is less cosmetic than structural. It changes the cost base of the site.
Jason Connon, Operations Manager at Stourbridge FC, said: “We’re delighted to receive an upgrade to our energy system as part of the Greener Game programme. Energy bills are a large part of our running costs, so to be able to take steps that help to keep them down is a real boost. We’re also passionate about reducing our carbon footprint, and the investment from England Football and E.ON Next will be a huge step forward in our decarbonisation efforts.”
The wider programme treats clubhouses, changing rooms, and other grassroots facilities as energy assets rather than fixed overheads. England Football and E.ON Next launched The Greener Game to combine capital support with practical guidance, with the intention of rolling audits, advice, and sustainable upgrades out across England over five years. That gives community clubs a route into the same kind of efficiency measures that have become routine across commercial buildings and light industrial sites.
Phil Woodward, Head of Clubs and Facilities at The FA, said the initiative sits inside a broader push to improve the grassroots estate, while E.ON UK Director of External Affairs Scott Somerville described the work as a way to cut bills and redirect money back into local clubs. For Stourbridge, that is the immediate value of the installation. For the programme, the larger point is that distributed solar, better monitoring, and practical energy planning are no longer confined to major venues or corporate portfolios.
Eligible clubs can now sign up to the Greener Game programme, which offers access to support, audits, and potential further upgrades as the scheme expands.
