Forest Green Rovers apologise after failing to mark Remembrance Day at home match

Forest Green Rovers have apologised after failing to hold a Remembrance Day tribute before their National League home match against Harrogate Town on October 31, with owner Dale Vince blaming a ‘human error’ for the omission.

Football clubs traditionally observe a minute’s silence at their nearest home fixture to Remembrance Sunday — this year falling on November 8 — to honour those who lost their lives in conflict since World War I. For Forest Green, that fixture was the Harrogate Town game at The New Lawn, which passed without any commemoration.

The club did observe a minute’s silence before their 2-0 FA Cup first-round defeat at Luton Town the following Saturday, but the absence of any tribute at home drew complaints from supporters.

Responding to a question on the club’s Fan Advisory Board, Vince said: “The lack of Remembrance at a home game is simply down to a human error/mistake on the club.” He acknowledged the congested fixture schedule as a contributing factor while stopping short of using it as justification. “It didn’t help that we had a sizable number of games in a small time frame beforehand; albeit that isn’t an excuse, we should have got this right.”

Vince was clear that the oversight did not signal any shift in the club’s values or its relationship with the Royal British Legion. “This was a simple error/mistake,” he said, adding that Forest Green would contact the RBL for guidance on future commemorations and would update their matchday planning sheet ahead of next season to ensure the mistake is not repeated.

Criticism surfaced on social media when a post showing the players observing the silence at Luton prompted replies highlighting the earlier failure at home.

The episode adds a layer of scrutiny to a club already navigating questions around fan engagement. Vince, the founder of green energy company Ecotricity and the driving force behind Forest Green becoming the world’s first certified vegan football club, recently acknowledged on the club’s website that there is “still scope to improve” the relationship with supporters.