League Two leaders’ head coach, Rob Edwards, sang before team’s win last week and a groundbreaking coach trip beckons
It is a sunny Tuesday afternoon and Forest Green Rovers’ scholars, in a striking zebra-pattern strip partly made from bamboo, are in action at Bristol Rovers. On the touchline is Hannah Dingley, who two years ago became the first woman to manage a men’s academy, and among those watching from the stands is the first-team head coach, Rob Edwards. When his side visit in April, they are set to become the first club in the country to travel to a game on a zero-emission electric coach.
Forest Green believe in doing things differently. The world’s first carbon-neutral football club are awaiting detailed planning permission on an all-wooden stadium and last week their owner, Dale Vince, the founder of the renewable energy supplier Ecotricity, did not enter the boardroom at Carlisle because their dress code stipulates ties must be worn. Vince has said his “mirror dress code policy” – “whatever they ban we insist on” – means Carlisle directors need to turn up in jeans and trainers to enter the boardroom in the reverse fixture in January. Forest Green won 2-0 at Brunton Park to remain top of League Two and it is safe to say it was an enjoyable trip home. “Yes, quicker than the journey up on the Friday,” Edwards says, smiling.