M&S today announces the launch of its new national initiative, “Eat Well Play Well Grassroots Edition”, a campaign dedicated to help grassroots clubs across the UK elevate their nutrition offering, utilising the help of a number of M&S ambassadors.
With new M&S Food research showing some grassroots coaches lack confidence around nutrition, M&S ambassadors, including Jill Scott and Ian Wright, will be travelling the UK to give grassroots clubs a little help. Joined by M&S Innovation & Development Chef, Russell Goad, the M&S team will help feed and fuel grassroots players and provide practical solutions for clubs on how they can introduce healthier eating on a daily and weekly basis. And with one in three (31%) coaches believing players would perform better if they were fuelled properly, M&S Food is hoping that with its help the teams will eat well and play well this season.
A nationwide survey of more than 2000 grassroots coaches and parents across the UK found that almost a third of coaches (31%) say they would welcome training to provide nutritional advice, with only around one in seven (15%) feeling comfortable offering guidance to parents or players when asked.
When it comes to performance, despite believing that their players would perform better if they fuelled properly (33%) of coaches report that players often arrive under-fuelled, and more than one in five (22%) also say grassroots players are sometimes limited by lack of energy. Conversely, parents clearly see the link between nutrition and football performance, with one in four (25%) noticing changes in their child’s performance based on what they eat, but this isn’t necessarily translating to ensuring their child is fuelled properly. nearly one in ten (9%) lack confidence in what their child should eat before football and even turn to ChatGPT for nutrition advice (19%).
Encouragingly, over a quarter of parents (28%) say they would be willing to make changes with support.
According to The FA’s Social Return on Investment Report 2024 report, the grassroots game is worth £15.9bn to society each year. This includes £3.2bn total healthcare savings due to supporting the health and wellbeing of the nation. Football-playing children deliver £110m in health savings for the NHS from 200k fewer cases of obesity and 60k fewer cases of anxiety and depression.
These findings show the wide societal benefits of supporting grassroots and community clubs. Former Arsenal and England star Ian Wright, who is one of the M&S ambassadors supporting the campaign, said:
“Until Arsene Wenger became Arsenal manager in 1996, I had no idea about food or how what I ate affected my performance. He changed everything for us, cutting down fried food and salt, getting us to eat more protein, and making us take vitamins. That’s why this M&S Food campaign is so important, because it’s supporting grassroots coaches and clubs to understand how they can help their players feel and play their best by eating the right stuff before and after training and games.
“Going with M&S Chef Russell to meet coaches, parents, players and club chefs has been so good – and we found out exactly what they needed to know about healthy eating. This isn’t about just telling people to eat more vegetables or anything like that, it’s about practical help, like giving out M&S vouchers so the club can provide healthy snacks for players, and sharing healthy recipes that are easy to make for lots of people and that kids will actually eat.
“Football and nutrition have come a long way since I was playing, and I’m happy to be part of something that helps everyone in the grassroots game understand more about nutrition, and ultimately helps kids eat well and play well”.
M&S Eat Well and M&S senior nutritionist, Sophia Thistlethwaite, added: “We know that healthy eating can be confusing but it makes such a big difference to performance, whether you’re on the pitch or the playground. That’s why we’re working with grassroots clubs to help elevate their existing food offering and provide them with ongoing support including access to our M&S Development Chefs, nutrition analysis and guidance on recipes, online recipe hubs and donations towards their grassroots programme.”
