What’s the big idea?

Join in to help
everyone save.

Did you know, players just like you could help the UK’s 38,000 grassroots football clubs save millions of pounds on their energy bills? Yep - simple things like turning out lights as you leave a room, not running the shower before you get in it, or making sure the floodlights are off as soon as possible after a match or training session.

Why now?

With Covid-19 having impacted all clubs, there’s no better time for us all to make a little bit of effort to do our bit.

Isn’t saving energy a
bit boring?

There’s no denying that saving energy isn’t as fun as a game of football, but if you and your team started to follow these simple ways to save energy at your club (and at home), look at all the football equipment you could buy!

FINAL WHISTLE
REPORT

Refuse to let the Government blow the final whistle.

A report revealing the increasing devastation faced by thousands of grassroots football clubs, concluding in an urgent call to action from the Government.

READ THE REPORT
STATE OF PLAY
REPORT

How has COVID-19 impacted grassroots football?

Our State of Play report lays bare the challenges they face, with one in 10 facing extinction in the next 12 months.

READ THE REPORT

Save & shop

As part of Utilita Energy’s new ‘Switch Before Pitch’ activity, we have teamed up with International and premier league legend and former England goalkeeper, David James, who has calculated what football equipment your club could afford, by doing our little bit for the planet (and your parents’ pockets will feel the difference too!)

Let’s check out David James’s ‘Switch Before Pitch’ calculations:

Simple action
to save energy
Saving per player
(per household per year)
Saving per team
(for 11 households per year)
Football equipment for your club
When your mum isn’t looking switch the heating down by 1 degree (she won’t notice the difference)

£80

£880
Team football strip £250
2 x goals £250
Team training tops £180
10 x training footballs £80
First aid bag £25
Team Trophies £95
Unplug your games console and phone charger when they’re not in use

£30

£330
2 x portable goals £264
12 x corner flags & poles £66
Turn off at the plug, and don’t use standby

£30

£330
4 x training rebounders £300
1 x handheld rebounder £30
Turning off your light when leaving your bedroom or the changing room

£14

£154
15 x cones £54
30 x hurdles £140
Washing your football kit at a lower temperature (30 instead of 60)

£9

£99
1 x agility speed training kit £99
Total

£163

£1,793

£1,793

Ambassador for the year-long Switch Before Pitch campaign, David James, is a passionate environmentalist, having converted every aspect of his life to promote a green lifestyle. He explains why this campaign has the power to not only to educate millions of people across football communities, but also to power their existence in the future:

Grassroots football has always been such an important element of every local community, and everything that can be done to support their existence right now is vital.

“This campaign will help clubs focus on saving and raising money, but most importantly, it will educate everyone it reaches about the simple ways we can all use less energy wherever we are, which will impact our pockets, and most importantly, our planet.

“Using tangible examples of what saving energy can buy, such as footballs, or a pair of new goals is smart – poor or missing equipment can mean the difference between a game being played or not at grassroots level, so affording everything a team needs is crucial.

Win, win, win!

Get your club ranking on the Switch Before Pitch league table to win football goodies, equipment, or a year’s worth of energy for your club, courtesy of Utilita.

David James will pay a visit to the top performing club in September 2021 to present their prize.

#switchbeforepitch

Utilita would love to hear about what you’ve been doing to save energy, or to raise money for your club. All your efforts will be collated and shared with the grassroots football community each month.

Share your own, and your team’s energy saving efforts and fundraising ideas on Facebook and X using the hashtag #switchbeforepitch, including the @ to your own football club and you’ll be entered into a league to win football equipment or a year’s worth of energy for your club.

The Leaderboard

Meet the Switch Before Pitch league of top performing clubs who have been sharing their money raising or saving examples on social using #switchbeforepitch. Find out how you can help your club win £1000s of goodies, below.

prize
Coming soon!
3 Points
prize
Coming soon!
2 Points
prize
Coming soon!
1 Points

How you can earn
points for your club

It’s easy to get on the SBP league table - simply earn points by doing any of the below and sharing it on your club’s social media channels - and don’t forget to include #SwitchBeforePitch

Earn 1 point Share our ‘Save & Shop’ PDF on social using #SwitchBeforePitch

Earn 2 points Print out and stick up our energy saving tips at your club and share the images using #SwitchBeforePitch

Earn 3 points Come up with a fundraising idea to help your club and share it to inspire others using #SwitchBeforePitch

Earn 4 points Film a video showing you doing any of the above and share it using #SwitchBeforePitch

Prizes

Every month (from October 2020) David James will select a team from anywhere in the league table, based on their efforts to raise or save money to win football equipment worth £500

Overall (July 2021) – The top five clubs in the league table will tasked to drive votes amongst families and fans on social. The team with the most votes gets a year of energy for the club, and £1,000 of football equipment. The four runners-up each get £1K worth of football equipment.