Club's football found on Dutch beach 400 miles away

A football has made its way from East Yorkshire to a beach in Holland

As excitement ahead of the Euro 2024 tournament builds, one football club is taking the phrase "can I have my ball back?" to the extreme.

Nafferton Youth Football Club in East Yorkshire received an unusual message on Facebook from a beach walker in Holland after one of their footballs washed ashore on the island of Terschelling.

Sean Gibson, chairman and coach at the club, said how the ball came to arrive 400 miles across the North Sea was "one of life's mysteries".

One of the theories is the possibility of a wayward shot landing in a ditch and being washed down to the River Humber and then out to sea, but he said for certain that the club had "never done any tours abroad".

Terschelling is an island off the north east coast of the Netherlands

The ball was found by Terschelling resident Renske Schroor during an evening walk on the island.

Since the ball was labelled "Nafferton YFC" in permanent marker, she was able to track down the club on Facebook and share photos of how far it had travelled.

Mr Gibson said balls often went missing throughout the season, adding: "Some of them show up again and some don’t, but this one just happened to show up in the Netherlands, crazily!"

Though there are many at the club who are keen to head to the island for a pre-season tour, Mr Gibson said he did not mind if they wanted to keep the football on the island as a "memento" and a "talking point".

One thing is for sure though, as the club wrote on Facebook: "It looks like shooting practice is in order at our next session!"