SUTTON UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB CSR REPORT 2022 UNITED IN THE COMMUNITY
We had also been advised by other teams that having a club in the EFL would bring an economic boost to the town that could run to several million pounds per year, and this helped to facilitate a high level of cooperation with our council. In this report you will read about many of the community benefits and added social value that we have been able to deliver, but I’d like to focus on one particular aspect, the ‘feel good factor’ engendered by our team’s achievement in reaching the Papa Johns EFL Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium. The whole town seemed to get behind the club. After the difficulties we have all experienced over the last two years, there was no doubt an expectant local community ready for the excitement and release of a trip to Wembley; and didn’t the community respond so well to the opportunity, with over 15,000 people supporting the team in the Final.
We produced our first CSR report in 2014 and now plan to report annually, not least to provide information on our carbon footprint. We hope you enjoy reading about our year.
FOREWORD by Bruce Elliott, Chairman, Sutton United FC The FA Cup run of 2016/17 when we hosted Arsenal in Round 5 after knocking out Leeds United lifted the club into levels of activity and global publicity that were unlike anything we had experienced before. But the last twelve months have surely been the most remarkable, challenging and unforgettable in the history of this club. When we won the National League title in May 2021, against all the odds, it catapulted us into the Football League (EFL) for the first time in our 123 year history but that was only the beginning, heralding an unprecedented period of hard work on and off the pitch to not just take advantage of our new hard won status but to protect the very existence and identity of the club. As newcomers we were required to meet a number of obligations imposed on all EFL clubs, not least being the need to undertake improvements to bring our stadium up to the standards required by the League, and to be completed in just a few weeks before the start of the new season. Working closely with our contractors, the London Borough of Sutton and the stadium safety authorities we somehow completed the work in time, but not without consequences.
Bruce
Our famous 3G artificial turf playing surface was not permitted in the EFL and so this had to be taken up and replaced by natural grass, with impacts on all of our many teams who used the hard wearing pitch for training and matches. We also needed to upgrade our floodlights, which gave us the opportunity to significantly reduce the glare and light overspill into surrounding homes, despite almost doubling the illumination onto the pitch.
We believe that our shareholder base gives us a strong platform on which to base our growth and future development. We retain a significant number of small shareholders, supporters whose holdings range from a couple of shares up to maybe a few hundred. This helps to ensure that we continue to take the views of our fans into consideration. But life in the National League and now as members of the Football League has shown that our traditional community model needed to evolve in order to provide some financial stability, so we are therefore fortunate to have brought onboard two important 'outside' investors, MBuzz Sports and ACV Ventures. Both play an active part in the running of the club but also recognise that our strength is in the continued expertise of the officials who have guided us to this point.
After experiencing our first season as members of the Football League it was clear that the structure that had served us so well in the non League game is not suitable for life as a full time professional club. Consequently, an internal review over several months led to a slightly modified structure, including our first two full time senior roles. Adrian Barry becomes CEO of the company, with Tim Allison as Chief Operating Officer. Both are long standing supporters, with an aggregate of over eighty years between them following the team up and down the country.
Until May 2022 the Board of Directors of Sutton United Football Club Ltd was chaired by Dave Farebrother, a supporter of the club since 1968. In October last year Dave announced that he would be stepping down from his role after 11 seasons, a promise he made when taking on the role in 2011. Vice Chairman Dave Mathers and fellow director Graham Starns also retired voluntarily at the end of the season.
The club is owned in its entirety by Sutton United Football Club Ltd. When this structure was established in 1953 it was a forward thinking move by a club never afraid to be at the forefront of change.
More than 15,000 Sutton supporters, old and new, flocked to Wembley Stadium for the Papa Johns Trophy Final GOVERNANCE
The club has continued to honour the intentions of the original directors that we should always be a community based club owned by “Sutton United people”. Although the structure of the limited company has needed to change several times over the years to keep pace with the demands and changing face of football, that basic principle has always guided us that all share sales have to be approved by the board and that supporters retain a significant interest in their club. No one person or group has a controlling interest in the club. We run as a business but any profits, a rarity for football clubs at our level, go back into the club. We want to be sustainable. At the end of the day, the only constant of any club is its supporters.
The club has changed in other ways since our 2014 report, most notably the addition of a women’s section and an Academy. These are covered in more detail elsewhere but we consider both to be an important part of the club’s future. Our Academy began in partnership with Knights as educational providers, offering qualifications alongside football coaching, and that is continuing in partnership now with John Ruskin College However, as members of the EFL we are required to implement a slightly different structure with full time scholars whose focus is solely on football development, and these two facets will be running side by side. Women’s and girls’ football is one of the fastest areas of sports growth in the UK and our women’s first team completed its fifth season in 2022 with its third promotion (and the other two seasons
were affected by Covid), and we now have a comprehensive support structure comprising two young adult sides and teams at age group levels from eleven upwards. Girls’ Wildcats football is supported through our Youth & Community Foundation.
• The windows in our main hall, now the MBA Lounge, were replaced with doubleglazing, helping to reduce heat loss and save energy.
• Gas fired heating to the boardroom was replaced with a heat pump.
• In 2017 we replaced our floodlights with LED lamps, bringing a large reduction in electricity usage and carbon emissions
The EFL and the Premier League have both recognised this and have provided additional funding for all licensed Academies to support this work.
• As a refurbishment programme was being carried out throughout the club fluorescent tube lighting was replaced with LEDs.
CATCHING UP When we issued our first CSR Report in 2014 we believe that it was the first such report issued by any English club below the Premier League and it was our intention at that stage to report annually. However, we were overtaken by events, in the form of success on the field and promotion into the Vanarama National League and, with all club administration managed by part time volunteers, we simply did not have the time to devote to producing these reports. That does not mean that we stopped undertaking initiatives to improve our sustainability performance.
• The gas boiler serving the MBA Lounge was replaced with a heat pump.
Sutton United Women FC celebrate winning their league in 2022 Sutton United places a high value on supporting young players after they leave the Club, whether they are offered contracts elsewhere or not. We have recently appointed a full-time Head of Player Care who, amongst other things, will work hard on resilience and ensuring that all players in our care also have a “Plan B”. Our care doesn't stop when they leave us. We have clear communication and contact with all released players so that the appropriate support can be given at what is sometimes a very difficult time. All our players aspire to be professional football players but it is important that we demonstrate responsibility and arm them with the tools they need to be successful in other walks of life.
Environmental In summer 2015 we replaced our traditional grass pitch with a state of the art 3rd Generation artificial turf surface, a “3G” pitch. This had a small impact on local biodiversity but did bring a significant saving in terms of water usage. As explored below, the benefits in terms of social sustainability were many and varied. The following initiatives were undertaken that improved our carbon performance:
• Our waste contract was changed from the local council to Biffa, to increase the amounts recycled.
• The urinals in the men’s toilets serving the main hall (MBA) Lounge were changed five years ago to waterless urinals with an estimated annual saving of 480 CuM Skipper Craig Eastmond (centre) celebrates putting the U’s 2 1 ahead against Rotherham at Wembley
The MBA Lounge, with double glazing and ceiling mounted heat pump
A significant amount of work commenced in summer 2021 to prepare our stadium for life as a Football League club. This involved quite a bit of demolition and extensive groundworks, but we were determined that as far as possible existing fixtures and fittings would be reused and that waste would be recycled. At the end of this report you can see our attempt to quantify the carbon impact of these works.
Our old floodlights were already recycled, in the sense that the lamps and housings were second hand, having previously been used at Southampton FC. As they were already at the effective end of their useful life they were sent to be recycled. The columns themselves were more of a challenge as it was determined that they would not be able to take our new lights without significant alterations, but that would then leave them with no flexibility for future lamp upgrades. Also, given the time constraints, re engineering the columns would have taken too long. It was therefore decided to simply cut down the columns and send the metal to be recycled.
We can’t leave this topic without discussing our 3G pitch of course. The technology is still widely misunderstood and not trusted by many, but in our experience it was a wonderful surface to play on and its durability that enabled so many teams to train and play on it
The newly constructed “away end” at the VBS Community Stadium
Old steel fences, which were not in serviceable condition, were given to a scrap metal dealer for recycling but newer steel hoarding fences and posts were carefully removed and almost all were reused around the ground as we re located fence lines. Old wiring, metal pipes and removed mesh fence were also given to the scrap dealer for recycling. Old plastic pipes were also taken for recycling. Old net posts have been reused as lighting or CCTV posts in the away concourse Broken up concrete was redeployed as “hardcore” below our new stands before any concrete was poured. Similarly, stone from under the old 3G pitch has been reused as far as possible as part of our soakaway material under the new away concourse. Any old soil, grass clippings and vegetation were either taken to the back of the site to decompose or removed from site at cost.
Ticket booths and toilet blocks were repositioned but kept in use in various parts of the ground. Several old steel container buildings located around the site were repositioned for continued use, except for a few that were unserviceable and hence recycled.
Of course, we also took down an existing covered terrace and that is in storage as we look for a buyer, waiting for a club lower down the pyramid that may be looking to undertake ground improvements of their own.
In conclusion, very little site waste went to landfill as almost all materials that could not be reused or taken away to be used elsewhere were sent for recycling.
• Summer 2015 also saw the club introduce a £99 ‘Early Bird’ season ticket.
Economic • The installation of the 3G pitch in 2015 not only increased the opportunities for usage across the club, it also opened up a new revenue stream.
Matt helped turn the nurses into Sutton fans before joining Omar and Kyel to deliver gifts to the patients
was at the heart of our operational model. It had always been our intention that if the situation arose where we needed to replace the pitch with grass we would take up the carpet in rolls and store for redeployment elsewhere. But when the time came we discovered that the only machine in Europe capable of taking up the carpet undamaged was in Scandinavia and would not be available to us until August, after we were due to start playing in the EFL on grass. So, with great reluctance, the pitch was simply cut up into strips. A few iconic patches, such as the penalty spot from which our skipper Jamie Collins had scored the winning penalty against Leeds United in the FA Cup, were kept for display and other squares were sold off to our fans as souvenirs. Various local organisations took some of the larger strips, for pathways and small play areas, but the rest had to be disposed of as waste with only a small element recyclable. Social The installation of the 3G pitch in 2015 increased stadium usage from under 5 hours per week to a 7 day/52 week operation with the potential for the surface to be used non stop. This enabled the first team to bring back training sessions to the club and ground share arrangements were entered into with Wimbledon Ladies FC and Sutton Common Rovers FC. The 3G pitch also allowed the club to offer match and training time to all of its 40+ sides covering boys’, girls’, women’s and disability football. It was noticeable how having a single hub for the first time brought all areas of the club closer together and contributed to the growth of the club. The 3G pitch also became an important hub for schools’ football in the borough and we organised the girls’ school football team. Football provides us with a key to open doors to engage and communicate with many sections of the local community, especially school children. Would you rather learn about diet and nutrition from a teacher or professional footballers?
• The following season, 2016/17, saw the club achieve a magnificent run in the FA Cup, reaching the last 16 with a home draw against Premier League giants Arsenal. Previous FA Cup success has seen crowd attendance levels increase because of the increased publicity and the desire of people to watch a successful team, but the attendance level then plateaus after the club is eliminated and falls back to the previous average, or perhaps slightly above. This did not happen in 2016/17, the crowd figure rose ahead of the Arsenal game but then stayed
• Annual partnerships have continued with local charities to help raise their profile within the community and partner in fund raising activities.
• The combination of these two factors, plus a successful team on the pitch, saw the average attendance rise from 558 to 1043.
• In 2018 the delivery of community initiatives was formalised under the umbrella of the new Sutton United Youth & Community Foundation (charity number 1178888) https://sufcfoundation.org.uk
• Christmas presents were delivered to children who would be spending the holiday in local hospitals.
• As with all businesses the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020 hit the club hard.
Becoming an EFL club saw an immediate increase in central commercial revenues provided by the league, increasing to just under £1 million per season. On the other side of the coin this, and more, was swallowed up by the necessary ground improvements. And, of course, the costs of being in the EFL, including travel and in particular wages, are a big increase on previous years.
The initial lockdown ended all income streams: match day ticket sales, pitch hire and bar income. Even when the club was allowed to recommence first team action for the 2020/21 season the games were played behind closed doors, apart from 2 matches mid season and the final home game against Hartlepool United. Our fanbase rallied magnificently to the cause with invaluable financial support through the United We Stand scheme. That the club was able to manage its way through this crisis is a credit to the directors, for implementing ways to minimise costs, taking advantage of relevant grants and finding other ways to generate revenue.
The club explored a number of alternative surfaces, but focused on modern hybrid type surfaces as used by the leading clubs internationally. The intention was to find a surface that was both value for money but also hard wearing enough to maximise the hours of usage. The final decision was to use the Powergrass surface designed in Italy and to be installed by Agripower. The surface had never been used previously in England for elite football and so there was some level of uncertainty about the levels of usage it would endure, which unfortunately meant cutting back the number of teams using the pitch to the absolute minimum required by the rules of the various competitions being entered. The biggest casualty of this was our women’s first team, partly because of the reluctance of the professional turf advisors to agree to matches on a Sunday immediately after a Saturday home game. Our groundshare agreement with Sutton Common Rovers did continue though, as it would not have been right or proper to ask them to find an alternative venue at such short notice, weeks after they had already been required to confirm their home ground with their own league. However, the need to upgrade our floodlights, which were already low energy LED, did provide the opportunity to reduce the light overspill from the pitch area and glare into the windows of neighbouring houses by around 90%, whilst doubling the lux level on the pitch itself.
The year began on the back of the men’s first team winning the National League title and gaining promotion to the Football League for the first time. The very next day after clinching promotion with victory over Hartlepool United orders were placed for the essential major projects required to meet the ground-grading requirements of the EFL. The biggest implication for the club, and wider community, of promotion was the League’s requirement to play on a grass pitch. This meant having to take up the 3G surface that provided so many opportunities for other teams to use the main stadium pitch. This didn’t just impact the club’s own women’s and ‘junior’ teams but also all of the other external users of the facility, for example the borough’s girls’ school football was all being played at Gander Green Lane.
We were also pleased to see our average home league attendance go over 3,000 and we hope that the stadium works undertaken towards the end of the season and during summer 2022 will help this to continue to rise in the 2022/23 season as our capacity goes to over 5,000 with more than 1,000 seats.
near that level for the rest of the season and remained high until the Covid lockdown.
2021/22
• Although the season ticket price did need to increase year on year it remained the intention to offer this at an attractive, below average price and this helped to keep attendance levels high.
In the 2021/22 season three of our students were offered full time contracts with clubs higher up the ladder, and Roman Charles Cook was rewarded with his first professional contract, at Sutton United, testament not only to the hard work they had all put in but also to the quality of coaching that they received.
On the field the team rose to the challenge and provided a memorable season for our supporters. Having had to play almost the entire 2020/21 season behind closed doors because of the Covid pandemic it was fantastic to welcome back spectators for the new season and we were delighted to see our average home attendance exceed 3,000 which was significantly in excess of our pre season target, so thank you to the people of Sutton for supporting us. We hope that this support was repaid by the team’s performances, in particular the opportunity to return to Wembley Stadium after an absence of 41 years for the Final of the Papa Johns Trophy against Rotherham United. More than 15,000 people packed the Sutton end of the stadium and we were delighted to see so many people there, matching the level of support of our more established opponents. It was just a shame for everyone in amber and chocolate that we were beaten in extra time having led 2 1 with just 90 seconds of the game remaining.
All of the players who had represented the club in its previous three Wembley finals were invited to the game and we were pleased to see so many of them attend, along with many ex players from other eras. We like to think that being a part of Sutton United is something that stays with people for life. Our Academy has been running successfully for several years, currently in partnership with John Ruskin College A highlight for the staff and students came in 2021 when a fine run in the FA Youth Cup brought the reward of a 3rd Round tie away to Liverpool. As members of the EFL we became subject to new requirements in this regard as well. In EFL terms our Academy needs to be made up of scholars, and our team of tutors and coaches worked hard to be awarded Category 4 status, the necessary minimum standard ahead of the new season. Meanwhile our partnership with John Ruskin continued, but with players competing in a different league.
As the year progressed more work was done behind the scenes to ensure that the club could be awarded the coveted Category 3 status for the 2022/23 season and this was confirmed in May 2022. This is important to the club, as it entitles the club to financial compensation for any registered young player who then signs for another club.
The women’s team had another excellent season, winning their division their third promotion in three completed seasons since being established as Sutton United Women in 2017 to move into the Premier Division of the London & South East Women’s Regional League. Much of this was thanks to the drive of team manager Duncan Muller, who parted company with the club in spring 2022, with caretaker Will Letts taking on the role permanently ahead of the 22/23 season. With Sutton Common Rovers moving to a new ground for the 22/23 season we look forward to welcoming the women’s first team back to The VBS Community Stadium, with matches arranged so that they do not coincide with Saturday home games for the men. Having experienced a full season of action on the new pitch the turf advisors are confident that the surface will cope with the number of planned matches. It has to be said that the surface played well in its inaugural year and received many compliments. The disability section, under the guidance of Steve King, had another good year, but this was only to be expected given the section’s exemplary record over a number of years.
The 2021/22 season saw the club use 43 players in total, male and female.
We get so much encouraging feedback from parents with regards to the benefits of our disability football section. It is not just about the physical benefits of playing sport, that is a given, or even the experience of being part of a team or making new friends, the players also find themselves with opportunities for new experiences that they might otherwise never had enjoyed, such as getting on a plane for the first time. See here for more insight into the benefits this team brings.
The U’s mixed ability disability team enjoyed their opportunities to play on the stadium pitch
One of the greatest memories came when the team won the George Best Community Cup in Belfast in 2019, a tournament aimed specifically at players with a disability, and the team also reached the FA People’s Cup Final at St George’s Park in Staffordshire in 2019, which was broadcast live on the BBC. In the 21/22 season we had more than 40 players within our 4 pan disability teams, who all regularly enjoy great success in leagues and cup tournaments. We were delighted this season when Aaron Lucas was selected to represent England in the Cerebral Palsy World Cup, with Aaron playing in the 9-0 win over Venezuela. The team celebrates winning the George Best Cup and meets legendary Olympian Dame Mary Peters.
Our Sutton United colts and girls sections had a wonderful year. 110 girls represented the club across 8 teams with 260 boys playing in 20 teams from U7s to U16s. All of our coaches are trained to a minimum of FA Level 1, and all have been DBS checked, emergency first aid trained and safeguarding trained. Every season we hold open trials locally, and in recent years we have seen over 1,000 children attend from all over the borough. The club aims to offer the best footballing development possible in a fun, safe and challenging environment. At the end of the 2021/22 season, over 40 boys were selected to represent professional academies, with many being signed to our own Cat3 Academy at Sutton United. A good number of cup finals were reached and tournaments won and, as a part of our One Club ethos, our young teams act as ball girls/boys for the first team for all home matches. We run Weetabix Wildcats sessions for girls aged 6 to 11 every Monday evening, with girls receiving their first session free of charge. The Wildcats provide non competitive football for girls who want to give the sport a try or play with others of their own age, but most of all it’s about having fun and meeting new friends.
We also run walking football sessions for the over 55s, held weekly at the Goals Soccer Centre in North Cheam. The game does what it says on the tin, the same rules as normal football but played at walking pace and no heading or bone-crunching tackles allowed. It’s
As a club, one of our priorities is to explore how we might be able to develop a new facility with a 3G pitch, not only to provide a hub for our own junior teams but also to again offer a high quality pitch for community use. It won’t be easy, identifying suitable locations is a challenge, but it is certainly one of the topics we are exploring with the council.
THE VBS COMMUNITY STADIUM
a great way to socialise but also to exercise in a fun way. We must express our thanks to all of the managers, coaches and administrators who supported all of our teams outside of the senior men’s teams, they are all volunteers and without them none of the teams would even exist. Crucially, the club met the FA Charter Standard and places welfare and safeguarding at the top of its list of priorities. All of the coaches receive appropriate training on top of their coaching qualifications and in 2021 we introduced a new online system designed to capture and process all incidents where safety and well being could potentially be at risk. Although the men’s first team is naturally the main focus of the club, being able to provide opportunities to enjoy sport and all of the health benefits that this brings for several hundred non elite players is a very important part of the club. After the enforced Covid absence we were also pleased to see the return of walking football for players who are still young at heart. When we won the National League, other clubs that we played against told us of the value that having a club in the Football League can bring to a town. It will obviously vary from place to place, but the consensus was that the value to the community where an EFL club is based can be as high as £2 3 million per year. This is not just a result of direct expenditure on hotels and bars but the raised profile of the town attracting greater levels of investment, business relocation and a general feel good factor. We have no accurate way of knowing what the value has been to the London Borough of Sutton during our first season in the EFL but we do now meet regularly with the council’s strategic development team to explore how the club and local authority can work together for our mutual benefit and, in particular, for the benefit of the wider community. The council has now commissioned an economic impact assessment survey to estimate this added value attributable to the club’s on field success.
We were delighted to conclude a sponsorship deal with local company VBS to have the stadium naming rights. It turned into a very timely association soon afterwards when we clinched promotion into the Football League and needed a contractor to take on much of the enabling works and upgrading necessary to bring our stadium up to standard. We were also pleased to appoint local contractors for other significant elements of the works, including Stadium Solutions, Thornton Communications, Croydon Scaffolding, Acctive Systems and Bell & Sons.
The new away end
My name is Jenny, and although I might not be Sutton United’s biggest fan I am definitely the tallest ! I go to all of the club’s home matches with my best friend Ian, who looks after me and insists on going everywhere with me.
Our Foundation was established and registered as a charity in 2018 and is administered by a Board of Trustees. The Foundation’s main objective is to provide public benefit to the Community (Sutton and its
Lots of Love Jenny Jenny is always pleased to be invited to attend events around the borough and will try to go to as many as she can. SUTTON UNITED YOUTH & COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
Christmas 2020, Jenny took the manager and some of the players to support staff at our local hospital who were helping the community fight the Covid pandemic
In April I enjoyed one of the best days out ever when I was invited to be the club’s official mascot at Wembley for the Papa Johns Trophy Final against Rotherham I got to walk on the pitch and wave at so many people. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the result but the whole day made me feel a hundred feet tall, I felt like I could look over the roof of the stadium.
I’m not only involved on match days of course. I get so many invitations to go to fêtes and school fairs and I really love meeting all of the teachers and children. This year, of course, the country celebrated seventy years of our Queen’s reign and I was invited to lots of parties, in fact we held a competition to decide which ones I should go to and we had so many wonderful entries from children with their drawings of me, some even included the Queen herself!
One of my favourite games of the year is when I can dress up for Halloween, I think the witch hat really suits me ! This year we also celebrated Chinese New Year with some fortune cookies and on St Andrew’s Day I handed out some lovely Tunnock’s biscuits, I might have even had a nibble myself.
Before every game I really enjoy walking around the ground and saying hello to the children, and even some of the not so young spectators. I love meeting the match mascots and it is my job to make sure they leave the pitch safely before the game starts. Every game is special to me but there are some days every year that I really enjoy. One of the best days is at Easter, when I help give out Easter Eggs to the children. Another day to remember this year was the match at home to Forest Green Rovers in February when I handed out Valentine’s Day roses and my friend Jimmy Giraffe came to the game with me. I was also delighted when my mum came to a game with me. Sutton really must be England’s most giraffe friendly club!
CLUB MASCOT JENNY GIRAFFE
Jenny welcomes our matchday first aid team from St John Ambulance
The Foundation has always strived to provide a safe and secure environment and we continue to ensure we have an open policy on participation. There are no barriers to entry by reason of age, ethnicity, gender or ability, nor are the local community prevented from joining due to difficult financial or social circumstances; everyone is welcome to come along and be part of their Community and hopefully improve their wellbeing.
During 2021/22, SUYCF teamed up with Planet Super League to support local schools to take climate action and have some fun.
adjoining boroughs) through Community participation in healthy recreational activities. To achieve this objective it has a focus on providing the necessary facilities and support, primarily centred at Sutton United FC, but also by direct engagement with the Community where they live.
The Planet Super League platform and content provides free educational resources to get local schools and classrooms active on climate, and a place to log that action, measure impact and compete against other schools and football clubs from across the country! A wide range of cross curricular activities covering different topics within sustainability, were used for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. 18 local schools took part, supporting climate action and Sutton United!
Sutton United are one of 60 Premier League & EFL teams taking part in Planet Super League. Our team badge is displayed on the Planet Super League website, alongside those from the other competing clubs.
Planet Super League's next big tournament for supporters is later this year. Using social media, the Foundation has been busy encouraging supporters to sign up now and play at their own pace. They can: Access dozens of different activities Save energy and water Cut their bills; cut down on waste Squash their carbon footprint Get out into nature!
The Football for Peace Food Drive, that involved distribution to food banks and similar outlets as well as direct to homes, was
During the pandemic the club was pleased to work with charitable organisation Football For Peace (www.footballforpeaceglobal.org) to help re distribute overstocked food, due to the temporary closure of Wembley Stadium, to those in greatest need.
The Academy also delivers a range of coaching opportunities to young people, particularly through partnership with schools.
The Foundation also took part in the 'Be Green For Your Team' initiative. Using the Planet Super League platform, local football fans were encouraged to learn about climate action and do fun things to be greener at home, school, work and at the match.
Learn about the natural world Score goals each time they complete an activity, supporting Sutton United in the process!
https://planetsuperleague.com/
organised for the U's by Club Director Martin Copus, as part of a national multi club initiative alongside Liverpool, Aston Villa, Everton, Wycombe Wanderers and Oxford United, with supermarket chain ALDI helping with logistics.
It has long been our practice as a club to work with a local charity as our appointed ‘Charity Partner of the Year’. We always work with a small local charity as we believe that is where we can help to make the greatest difference, using our own profile as leverage to raise awareness of the charity. Our partner for 21/22 was PlayWise. Based at Sutton Central Library, PlayWise Learning CIC (Community Interest Company) was launched in April 2019 to offer parents and carers of young disabled children up to the age of 8, and the professionals that support them, a wider range of services to help reduce the impact of disability and SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disability) and support families on their journey. PlayWise offers new, innovative and bespoke interventions for families either at home, at community hub, or in their learning setting. We hosted an evening to celebrate the appointment of the PlayWise CEO Pam Fry as an MBE for services to disabled children, and also the work that PlayWise does in Sutton. Together with Sutton Mayor Trish Fivey, they unveiled the PlayWise Wall of Support to showcase businesses that have supported the children and families.
Our charity partners for 2022/23 will be Maggie’s at the Royal Marsden Hospital (https://www.maggies.org/our centres/maggies at the royal marsden/) In 2021, 88 players participated in our annual Golf Day at Pyrford Golf Club and raised £875 for our Foundation. In 2019 the event took place at Banstead Golf Club and we raised
Collecting the food from Wembley
In May this year we also hosted PlayWise’s 3rd birthday party. The partnership raised in excess of £8,000 for the charity this year. We believe that when we work well with our selected Charity Of The Year, it’s not just about raising funds but perhaps just as importantly using our profile to help increase their brand recognition. In recent seasons we have been delighted to also support several charities with funds provided by the Football Association arising from the annual Community Shield game at Wembley. Beneficiaries include Our recent charity partners have been: 2017/18 Sutton SCILL Centre 2018/19 St Raphael’s Hospice 2019/20 St Raphael’s Hospice 2019/20 Sutton Night Watch 2021/21 St Helier & Surrey Kidney Patients Association 2021/22 PlayWise Club Chairman Bruce Elliott presents the Community Shield cheques to local charities
CHARITY PARTNERSHIPS
the
Of course, the team also wore rainbow laces as part of the wider campaign.
For next season we are exploring several alternative systems that will enable spectators to anonymously report any instances at The Lane on matchdays of behaviour that is discriminatory in any way. Sarah Aitchison, one of our most widely known supporters, has taken on the role as our Her Game Too Ambassador and will bring great energy and fresh insight to this aspect of the club’s relationship with its supporters and players. Sarah is also becoming our club EDI Champion and one of her first achievements will be the club’s adoption of the principles behind the Football Leadership Diversity Code and we expect the FA to grant us that status during the coming season.
£1,100 for St Helier & Surrey Kidney Patients Association.
FAIRNESS,
It’s not just about the first team
PlayWise comes to Sutton United INCLUSION & RESPECT
At Sutton United we want to treat everybody equally, irrespective of their gender, age, backgrounds or beliefs.
We are very proud of the reputation we have as a friendly, welcoming club and were delighted to receive so many kind messages from away supporters during our first season as a Football League club. We know that our stadium does not yet have the capacity or facilities of our rivals at this level but we hope we can go some way to making up for that with the warmth of our welcome as we make continual improvements.
One of the challenges we faced ahead of the new season was being able to accommodate the required number of wheelchair spaces. Our grandstand only has steps, not a lift, and the pitch side solution we used previously was no longer acceptable So, our solution was to construct a temporary, covered viewing platform alongside our Parkside Terrace. This purpose built structure has ramp access and was designed to accommodate up to seven wheelchairs with space for a carer/assistant for each. Spaces were available to our own fans and to supporters of the away sides and needed to be booked in advance, and we made arrangements to provide free carparking and greet the wheelchair users at the turnstiles. We were delighted to receive so much positive feedback from our guests.
Some of our supporters formed a new, official Pride section and their rainbow flag was proudly on display at grounds up and down the country. You can follow Sutton United Pride on Twitter here https://twitter.com/suttonutdpride
Ahead of every match we undertake a walk round in the stadium to check for hazards that need rectifying. On match days the stewarding team perform a further series of checks before the Ground Safety Officer gives the OK for the gates to be opened.
As part of the preparations for life in the EFL we employed external consultants to undertake a new Fire Risk Assessment and then implemented the resulting remedial actions. Fire safety training was undertaken by the board and staff and the directors also attended counter terrorism training. We also added additional cctv cameras and installed a new emergency generator to, in particular, cover match day lighting.
THE BUSINESS CLUB
Sutton fans enjoy their unexpected day out at Wembley Stadium
This is also where anyone can find our Customer Charter.
HEALTH & SAFETY As Chairman of the board of directors of Sutton United Football Club Ltd, Dave Farebrother had boardroom responsibility for matters of Health & Safety until his retirement from the board in May 2022. Expert support is provided by Kevin Thackeray, a well qualified and experienced H&S manager, and by our Ground Safety Officer Mike Chenery. We work closely with the Sports Ground Safety Authority and with experts at London Borough of Sutton to ensure we implement high standards both on match days and more generally.
The governance section of our website (www.suttonunited.net) has links to our various policies in relation to: • Equal Opportunities • Respect • Unacceptable Behaviour • Safeguarding • Health & Safety
Early in 2022 the HR Company Ltd were appointed as external H&S advisers to the club, and they have reviewed all of our policies and procedures.
The Business Club has been in place for around ten years. Local firms pay an annual sponsorship fee to join and receive benefits in terms of advertising and match tickets, but, principally become part of a network of local companies that also get the opportunity to attend or even to present at or host monthly seminars.
We see the Business Club as a modern twist on the established idea of a chamber of commerce that complements that concept, with a focus on bringing local businesses together and raising awareness of the key issues of the day. Local business Angel Plastics have been the club’s shirt sponsors for several years and can now enjoy the benefit of national exposure.
THE U’s BUSINESS APP. Last year we launched our community based "U's Business" App, designed to provide a forum and meeting place for the various organisations we interact with from our Business Club to shareholders, sponsors, local partners, suppliers, charities and, of course, the local authority.
"U's Business" App includes write ups and contact details of all our community partners, regular news updates, details of matches and other events at Gander Green Lane, and a chat function (like WhatsApp) enabling easy personal introductions and interaction. So far the app has had over 120 downloads, all by U's related local businesses and organisations, and the app has been used well over 10,000 times already. Onwards into year 2 and beyond ! We are proud to be such an important part of the local community
For the first time we have attempted to quantify the significant elements of our Scope 3 footprint. This year saw a significant addition to our Scope 3 footprint because of the ground development project, but even in a ‘normal’
Back in 2014 the club was one of the first in the country to publish its energy usage and associated carbon footprint, and became the first club anywhere to be awarded the Planet Mark. In the intervening years the scale of the environmental challenge facing us has become even more evident, not just in terms of Climate Change but also biodiversity (species extinction) and the circular economy, both with a big helping hand from documentaries with Sir David Attenborough. We have robust process in place regarding utilities consumption, but are less developed in terms of quantifying our other environmental impacts, but we have attempted to quantify our impacts here to at least gain an understanding of our impacts, and opportunities, and explore how we can improve going forwards. One thing we have done is sign up to the EFL’s Green Club’s initiative and we are working to reach the status of being Green Club accredited. The club’s environmental programme is being led by former Board Chairman Dave Farebrother, who is a Chartered Environmentalist and Chartered Energy Manager.
The utilities consumption data shown below is based upon a mix of actual meter readings and invoices and enables us to have a high level of confidence in the associated Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions calculated for operating the VBS Community Stadium.
In other words, it connects the Club's extended community. We don't make a charge to our partner organisations, instead we set out to add mobile technology to our communications with the business community we are part of.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Fuel usage for travel accounts for a significant proportion of our Scope 1 total and this is calculated from the mileage claims submitted by our staff.
year we incur impacts that are largely beyond our control. By its very nature, competitive football requires teams to travel and at professional levels that also necessitates a number of support staff. We do not fly to matches and travel to games by train or coach. Players also have to travel to training sessions of course and we encourage car sharing where possible.
Travel
Even Jenny loves to do her bit for the environment. One of the most important aspects of English football is the number of supporters who travel far and wide to follow their team. Although spectator travel is outside the scope of our emissions, we have made an attempt to quantify this for both home and away games.
Quantifying Our Environmental Impacts All data below refers to our financial year ending 31/5/22 Utilities usage, VBS Community Stadium Electricity 19,767 kWh 4,568 kgCO2 Scope 2 Gas 63,525 kWH 12,070 kgCO2 Scope 1 16,638 kgCO2 Water 2,510 M3 138 kgCO2 Scope 3 Team Travel Travel by players and staff for 1st team away matchdays Average away party taken as 26 people Train Travel 6,435 kgCO2 km 3,345 TravelCoach km 15,360 19,968 kgCO2 26,403 kgCO2 & Subsistence for players & staff for 1st team away matchdays Overnight Stays 5,060 kgCO2 Evening Meals 3,319 kgCO2 Pre Match Meals 2,596 kgCO2 Total 10,975 kgCO2 Travel Travel by players & staff to home games and training sessions 28 Home Games 129 kgCO2 80 Training Sessions 475 kgCO2 604 kgCO2 Staff Travel Travel not associated with 1st team matchdays Total CO2 is calculated from dicer expenses claims Total Distance 173,733 km Total CO2 30,898 kgCO2
Player
Hotel
Although there is usually some element of repair work or minor refurbishment undertaken in most years, 2021/22 was unusual in the sheer scale of works required to develop the stadium in order to meet the ground grading requirements of the EFL. A similar level of works is anticipated for 2022/23 but both years are atypical.
Procurement of Goods and Services kgCO2 kgCO2 Merchandise, Club Shop 35,843 35,843 Social Club, Services 8,442 Social Club, Bar Requisites 4,980 Social Club, Drinks 25,526 Social Club, Bar Snacks 1,345 Social Club, Fruit 171 40,464 76,307
Procurement
All goods and services have an associated carbon footprint arising from the energy needed to produce a product, all the way from when it was a simple mineral or crop in the ground, or the energy used by service providers. Very few suppliers are able to provide measured levels of carbon and so, in common with all other sectors, we have used the widely available factors to convert spend in different categories into kg of CO2.
Project Works
Procurement of Goods and services kgCO2 Ground development works 2,375,242
SUMMARY Totals kgCO2 Electricity 4,569 Gas 12,070 Water 138 Players & Management Travel 605 Staff Travel 30,898 Away Match Travel 26,404 Away Match Subsistence 10,975 Merchandise, Club Shop 35,843 Social Club 40,464 Development Projects 2,375,242 2,537,208
Spectator Travel We consider and define this element to be outside of our own Scope 3 figures, but nevertheless we believe it is interesting and important to attempt to quantify the impacts of how fans travel to games, as spectator travel is a major impact. The numbers are intended to be indicative only, as it is not feasible to gather data on how every single person travels to games. Carbon Footprint, Spectator Travel No. of Fans kgCO2 Home Games SUFC Fans 50,232 217,836 Home Games Away Fans 9,447 245,066 Away SUFCGamesFans 6,475 149,258 612,160 EFL Final,TrophyWembley 15000 55,477 We based the above estimates on the following split of how fans say they travel to matches. Home Away fansAwayatVBS Walk 36.0% 0.0% 0.0% Cycle 0.4% 0.0% Bus 8.2% 0.0% 0.0% Train 9.8% 47.0% 47.0% Coach 0.0% 19.6% 19.6% Car (alone) 24.6% 8.7% 8.7% Carshare 21.0% 24.7% 24.7% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% HEALTH & SAFETY STATISTICS Matchdays Incidents at the VBS Community Stadium (excluding players) Number of incidents 9 Injury 4 Medical 5 Hospital Visits Required 1 RIDDOR* 0 *The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations All Other Times No accidents were recorded during the period June 2021 to May 2022 Thiswasnotatypicalyear,withtheclubnotingeneral useforseveralmonthsbecauseofconstructionworks, stafffrequentlyworkingfromhome,andamuchlower leveloffunctionhirethanpreviouslyfollowingCovid. END 0.02820.0745 0.0009 0.0037 0.1908 0.163 0.0678 0.2213 0.2498 Split of Contributions to Carbon Footprint PlayersWaterGasElectricity& Management Travel Staff AwayTravelMatch Travel Away Match SocialMerchandise,SubsistenceClubShopClub
Directors Dave Mathers, Bruce Elliott and Dave Farebrother with the permanent trophy to mark the club’s Vanarama National League title in 2021
Behind the scenes Wembley Stadium was decked out in club colours for the Papa Johns Trophy Final Photos courtesy of Paul Loughlin Additional photos by Dave Farebrother
