Newark & Sherwood United FC, currently sharing a stadium with Harrowby United, announces intentions to be UK’s most purpose-driven football club

A football team has announced its ambitions to become the most purpose-driven football club and use football as a “force for good”.

Newark & Sherwood United FC has announced its intentions to operate with a new model for grassroots football that places sustainability, community, and ethical business at its core.

Currently sharing a stadium with Harrowby United while they search for a location for their new stadium, the Highwaymen has released figures that in the 2024/25 season, 65% of Premier League shirt sponsors were gambling or airline companies, and Newark & Sherwood United have decided to take a different approach.

Chairman Steff Wright said that football holds the power to unite communities, champion positive values, and become a platform for meaningful change:

“We want to make sure the club is built on sponsorship the the right type of companies, not driven by selling fast food, betting, fossil fuels etc. We want to use companies that fund football in a way that enhances the community and bring in local businesses with the right mindset.”

The club is owned and operated by the B Corp-certified Gusto Group and supported by plant-based food producer BOSH! and law firm Shakespeare Martineau.

Newark and Sherwood United FC also has plans to build a new stadium using repurposed shipping containers, and are currently on the lookout for the right location for their dream stadium.

Volunteers, Steff added, will be at the forefront of the club when they ae installed in their new home, and members of the community will be able to get involved in the running of the club, from helping out in hospitality on match days to helping maintain the pitch.

“Volunteers are so important,” he said, “They can cover everything that’s how the club is run in a profitable way to create a good matchday experience.

“The idea is to bring the community together with a purpose-driven business to do something different. We want to bring people together of any age, not just because they care about what’s happening on the pitch but to bring the community together.

“We want people of all ages to be coming together and to discuss mental health and open that dialogue, that’s what football can do — brings people together and it can be a force for good.”

The club has already rolled out several sustainable initiatives, including manufacturing the 2025/26 football kit with a local supplier using recycled material, serving plant-based food to players and supporters on matchdays, and introducing the UK’s first auto-refund technology by Recirculate Systems, on all cups returned for reuse that eliminates single-use plastic from its ground.

Steff added: “All we want at this point is to find a site with a football pitch with the basics like changing rooms and under-cover seating area and then we can rebuild our club.

“We want to deliver that ambition and we need the town and the council to get behind us.”