A DEVOTED member of a Junior football club in Denbighshire says its young players "will not kick a ball again" unless support can be found following extensive flood damage.

Ian Evans, Head of Youth Development at Corwen Juniors, described the damage sustained at the club's youth facilities over the weekend as "heartbreaking".

The 48-year-old added that a generator costing around £4,000 had been flooded during the storm and the changing rooms and kitchen have also been submerged following heavy rainfall.

"I went up to our pitch on Monday to have a look and it's worse than we first thought to be honest," Mr Evans said.

"We're hoping to find a way back from this, but we need support from the local community and beyond. We have over 100 young players currently on the books at Corwen FC and unless help can be found, they won't be kicking a ball again any time soon."

Mr Evans added that road access to the pitch and its facilities, which are seperate to the first team's War Memorial Park ground, has also been restricted as craters have been created in the surface following the floods.

Having been involved with the club since he was 15-years-old, Mr Evans stressed the importance of the facilities to the Town as a whole, saying: "We are the only club in South Denbighshire to offer football to young girls aged 10 to 16 years old and we also have a women's team here."

"All the kids and volunteers are devastated. We need money and support to help keep the kids playing football."

Jane Claybrook, who helps run the under 12 and under 14 girls sides, added: "My daughter Lowri moved to the club some two years ago whilst we were looking for one in the area. We were welcomed in with open arms and it really does feel like a family here.

"Our young girls come from all over the area, from Bala to Clo Caenog and we all feel very close to one another. If it hits one of us, it hits us all.

"The under 14's are scheduled to play their next few games away so that's worked out well, but our under 12's are scheduled to play a home match next Saturday, which we have had to move to Ruthin and will cost us quite a bit of money to do that."

A GoFundMe page with a fundraising target of £10,000 has been set up by the club to help it get back on its feet as soon as possible.

The girls teams are also currently involved in Ruthin Tesco store's blue coin scheme until the end of next month - where customers can donate towards their cause.

Welsh Premier League side Bala Town FC will also be holding a bucket collection on Saturday to help the Juniors out.

Corwen Football Club is set to hold talks at the Town's Sports Centre for 7pm on Thursday evening. Anyone interested in helping out is welcome to attend.

Club Secretary and Town Council Chair Cllr Huw Jones said the situation was "very unfortunate" and that the club would most likely need to "start over again".