Only nine Lincolnshire football clubs have applied for money from a £6m fund to help with their energy costs throughout the UK’s ongoing energy crisis.
Amateur and professional clubs in Lincolnshire can apply for money from the Energy Support Programme but an FA spokesperson said only a handful had made an expression of interest so far.
The programme is broken down into two funds: The Energy Fund and The Floodlight Fund. The Energy Fund will be targeted at energy-saving measures for clubhouses and pavilions. The Floodlight Fund will support the upgrading of halogen floodlights to LED floodlights to reduce energy consumption and save money.
Head of Football Development at the Lincolnshire FA, Steph Powell, said: “There have been 432 expressions of interest (EOI) nationwide for the Energy Fund with 43 for the Floodlight Fund. In Lincolnshire, there have been nine for the Energy Fund, but no expressions of interest for the floodlight fund at the minute.”
The reason given for the limited number of floodlight fund EOIs in Lincolnshire is that there is a difficult criterion to meet to apply for that section of the grant.
Whilst this programme will benefit clubs at the grassroots level the most, Lincoln City is paving the way for what a club in a higher league can do to stay energy efficient. As of March 2023, Lincoln City is ranked as the ninth-highest-rated club in League One for energy efficiency, education and waste management and is 21st overall out of 72 EFL clubs.
