WHILE football clubs have a reputation for training ground car parks full of exotic sports cars and gas-guzzling 4x4s Forest Green Rovers are trialling the use of electric cars in an effort to slash carbon emissions by over 80 per cent.

The unique pilot study will use the fleet of 11 electric cars for players commuting to training from Birmingham, the home counties and across the west country.

Forest Green chairman Dale Vince said: “Travel is one of the biggest environmental impacts in football, with teams and fans across the country covering millions of miles every season by car and coach.”

“We worked out that each week our playing squad could cover almost 10,000 miles travelling to and from training in Gloucestershire.

“The players took the first step themselves by organising carpools, which straight away cut carbon emissions and fuels costs by more than half.

“The next step is to bring electric vehicles into the equation. We’ve teamed up with Nissan, who have supplied us with their new electric car, the LEAF – 11 of them in fact – which we’re going to run in a trial.”

Forest Green manager David Hockaday took delivery of his Nissan Leaf four weeks earlier.

He said: “Straight away I’ve had players coming up to me asking: ‘Gaffer when do I get one’. That says it all.”

Meanwhile, a 200-strong Rock Choir will perform for Comic Relief at The New Lawn on Friday night.

The choir will perform before kick-off from 7.30pm and again at half time as Forest Green take on a Mansfield side that have risen to second place in the Blue Square Premier.

Fans will be encouraged to wear a red nose for Comic Relief and donate to the volunteers collecting around the ground.