Campaign shows climate impact on grassroots sport

Taunton Town FC is one of many grassroots clubs to be vulnerable to flooding

Football fans are being urged to get behind a campaign called "save our grassroots", which aims to get MPs to take action on the ways climate change is affecting grassroots sports.

Charity Rewriting Earth, based in Wiltshire, is one of the organisations behind it and was recently at a Taunton Town FC match to get the crowd involved.

The charity's founder Paul Goodenough said many amateur clubs will not "have the money to save themselves."

Earlier research by the British Association of Sustainable Sport suggested one in four professional football pitches will be under water in 25 years.

Paul Goodenough went to get the crowd chanting "save our grassroots"

The "save our grassroots" campaign video includes celebrities Gary Lineker, Paul Merson, Rob Rinder and Ben Shephard.

Mr Goodenough said they want to show that "all sections of society care".

"We're getting voices from all across the country - we're going to represent that at Westminster", he said.

Karl Lindsay from Taunton Town FC said the regularity of flooding is concerning

At Taunton the pitch is prone to flooding after heavy rain, and this has left them with financial problems.

Karl Lindsay is the football operations manager there and said: "At one point in December we went nine inches underwater on the pitch. We felt it last year more than ever.

"It's really important something is done to protect the spaces."

Mr Lindsay explained they have installed extra drainage, but cannot do so directly under the pitch as there is a thick layer of clay.

They have laid a new pitch, but torrential rain could leave it vulnerable to further problems with flooding.

In addition to the financial cost, he believes the state of the pitch due to flooding contributed to their relegation last season.

He said: "Fans are frustrated. We ended up with so many games having to be played at the last minute.

"Then we had to move ground which cost us a lot of money."