Stuart Pearce has never forgotten what non-league football has given him.

The former England captain got his start in the beautiful game at fifth-tier Wealdstone, with the semi-professional outfit proving the perfect platform to a career that has seen Pearce accrue 78 caps for his country.

Already a devoted ambassador to the grassroots game, the ex-international sought to continue his love affair with non-league football by visiting Shefford Sports Ground, home of Shefford Town and Campton, to help launch the FA's 'Greener Game' campaign.

Created in collaboration with E.ON, the 'Greener Game' strategy is bespoke initiative created in collaboration with E.ON and designed to help the environment by promoting sustainability practices within the grassroots game.

“My background was non-league football. I had five and a half years in non-league so these initiatives are very important to me,” said Pearce. “Anything it can do for the community and for sustainability and a greener world and more importantly for the health of youngsters to take part in a team game is important.  

“When I was 16 I left school and I had nowhere to go play football so I got into my local non-league team and that gave me a platform to go into the pro game at the age of 21.

“It's vitally important that these initiatives are there because without this level of football, you're not going to get the top end of the game either.

“The pyramid system is so vital and if we turn a blind eye to this level and don't put the facilities and funding into this level of football, you're not going to get the top end of the game or the next international.

“From my local non-league team, I ended up England captain. That's the power of it.”

As part of the campaign, solar panels were installed at Shefford Sports Ground to help reduce the costs of Shefford Town and Campton's energy bills, and Pearce revealed his excitement to see the 'Greener Game' make the beautiful game more sustainable.

He added: “I left home this morning and people were telling me energy bills are going up. Bringing solar panels to clubs like this will drive bills down and it's going to make it so much better.

“You're going to save money. That money can be put into other stuff, facilities, goals, balls, you name it. All of that can be put back into the football club. That might encourage more people to come down here, more teams available to play.

“If we can make the facilities better, the next generation of players are going to want to come and parents will want to bring their children as well.

“The health implications are there to see and I think in general, we're looking for a greener community and this initiative will do that.”