Football fans raise £20k for Punjab flood relief

Aston Villa fan group Punjabi Villans raised the money for flood relief work in just a few months

A group of football supporters has raised £20,000 for a charity's flood relief work in Punjab.

Aston Villa fan group Punjabi Villans will present a cheque to Midland Langar Seva Society (MLSS) outside the Premier League's ground, Villa Park, on Sunday, ahead of the side's match against Bournemouth.

The chief executive officer of MLSS, Randhir Singh, who has been in the north Indian state distributing aid, offered a "heartfelt" thank you to the group for their support.

Monsoon rains have seen Punjab face its worst deluge since 1988, with hundreds of thousands of people affected by flooding.

Millions of people in Punjab depend on agriculture

"We didn't think we'd get to £20,000," said Nim Gill from Punjabi Villans, but within hours of starting the fundraising around three months ago, they had a donation of £2,000.

Many of the members of the supporters group have big families, so they turned to them first to ask for money.

"The response has been phenomenal; there are some amazing generous people," he said, describing the emotional connection the group has with the affected region.

"Our grandparents are from Punjab. Families there live off farming, and land will not be useable for years," he said.

So to be able to do something to help the region from thousands of miles away was "so satifying" , and the group were "bursting with pride" to hand over the cheque, he added.

Punjabi Villans was founded in 2012, and there are between 50 and 60 members.

It was formed to unite fans from all backgrounds and "provide a welcoming space for the British South Asian community at Villa Park".