Football in wellies?! Has your match been cancelled by flooding?

These children want their matches to be pitch perfect

It's an issue facing youth teams in many areas of the UK - flooded pitches causing cancelled matches.

The Football Association (FA) - which runs football in England - says around 100,000 grassroots football matches are cancelled each year due to ‘poor pitches’, such as those caused by bad weather.

Now a team in Cheshire is highlighting the problem in their own way - by playing in wellies!

Willaston FC's under 13s held a kickabout in the wet weather boots to highlight the impact climate change is having on the beautiful game.

Callum (second from the right) says football is an important part of many children's lives

'It's frustrating'

Callum, who plays for Willaston FC U13s, says there have been cancelled games all year round.

He said: "It’s frustrating, you’re building up to it and then it’s cancelled and you’re ready to see your friends and it’s just a bad feeling."

“We want the local government to help us out to put more funding into it, so we can have more chance of playing.”

Callum says playing football is an important part of many children's lives.

He explained: “It’s not just going out and playing on a Saturday if someone’s not had the best week it can cheer them up.”

Dylan (right) says the team just wants to play football

Dylan, who also plays for the club, said: “It’s affecting the team because we just want to show up and play football.”

When asked what he wants to see happen to help grassroots matches he said: "More drainage systems to be added to pitches and more astroturf to prevent the flooding."

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council said: "We've seen a massive increase in football participation over the last ten years, with help from the Football Foundation (consisting of the Premier League, the FA and Government).

"As a council we have helped to facilitate and invest in several 3G artificial grass pitches helping to alleviate pressure on grass pitches and reduce the number of cancelled matches due to weather.

"The boroughs Playing Pitch Strategy has helped to prioritise investment where it can make the most impact and a number of sites have benefitted from grass pitch improvements over the summer."

Some pitches can take weeks to recover after heavy rain

Why is there such a problem with waterlogged pitches?

Sports pitches can flood when there is a lot of rain, or wet weather.

Climate change, caused by global warming, means more frequent and intense extreme weather such heavy rainfall says BBC Weather.

Manchester FA explains: ​"Because of the climate crisis, our winters are becoming wetter and wetter, meaning pitches are holding a lot more water and not having the chance to drain properly, leaving a lot of pitches unplayable."

The FA says waterlogged pitches cause an increase in match cancellations.

The team wants people to put their best foot forward to help grassroots teams play all year round

Willaston FC's U13 coach Dan Beighton said: “Last season it was horrendous, between October and March we played around three matches.

"Throughout the league they were calling off all the matches."

The team had to play two games back-to-back instead of one each week to make up for the cancellations.

Dan says his club is one of the lucky ones, as they secured £15,000 in funding to improve the drainage and grass surface of the pitch.

When asked about the changes that need to happen to prevent waterlogged pitches, Dan said: "It needs to come from the very top. The government and MPs need to hit climate change targets and take it seriously above anything else.

It's going to affect everything if they don't make it their number one priority. Everyone needs to play their part."

What is being done to stop waterlogged pitches?

The Football Association told Newsround it is trying to improve pitches in England.

The Football Foundation, the charity of the Premier League, the FA and the government has a target of reaching 12,000 “good” quality grass pitches across England by 2028, and is investing £21 million a year to reach this goal.

It also wants to build 300 new artificial pitches, to be used in any weather.

A Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs spokesperson said: "Keeping communities safe from flooding is very important.

"That is why the Government has brought together a new expert group to discuss how we can be more resilient to flooding in the future.

"We are also spending £2.4 billion pounds over the next two years to repair and build new flood defences."

We want to hear from you.

Is the sports club you play for affected by waterlogged pitches?

Have you had matches cancelled? Let us know in the comments below.