Forest Green Rovers, the Nailsworth club known as the world’s greenest football club, have given their changing room a very different look. The room at The New Lawn is now filled with potted plants.
The makeover was a collaboration with Plants & Flowers Foundation Holland, timed for International Stress Awareness Week. The idea is that indoor plants can help ease anxiety in a high-pressure setting.
What the players and staff said
Midfielder Oliver Ewing said he had never seen anything like it and that the room feels homey. He said changing rooms can be very stressful, especially after a defeat, and that the plants already seem to have a calming effect around the ground.
First-team coach Yan Klukowski said looking after mental health is as important as the physical side of the game, and that the club has to give players strategies to cope with the pressure they face.
Why plants?
Research on indoor plants has linked them to lower nervous system activity, less mental fatigue and better mood. The club hopes the change will help the squad, which sits mid-table in the National League, turn its fortunes around.
Forest Green Rovers already serve only vegan food, use recycled materials for their kits and run their stadium on 100 per cent green electricity.
