A local football club were unable to play matches last year because of flytippers.
Last year, Irlam FC men’s team went three months without playing football, when Covid restrictions were lifted, due to flooded pitches, the M.E.N has been told.
Flooding has been an issue at the club's ground for years but staff have recently found the answer to their problems.
According to the Silver Street club flytipping at a drainage ditch on a public path near the pitches has caused flooding at the facilities when there is heavy rain.
The flytipping hotspot is at a drainage ditch, originally used as a flood defence.
The drainage ditch runs across both pitches owned by the club and has been blocked by office chairs, trollies and other junk that people have left in there.
The blockage left the pitch underwater, meaning league matches could not be played, causing financial losses for both the club and its players.
Dave Pike is a committee member for Irlam FC where his children also play football.
He says this is an example of the far-reaching effect flytipping has on communities that perpetrators don’t take into account when dumping their rubbish.
“It’s been bad enough these past 12 months with Covid but having to cancel fixtures proved very detrimental as well,” he told the Manchester Evening News.
“We’re a step five national football club, and this has cancelled matches which means the players don’t play and don’t get paid.
“The juniors don’t play either so the impacts for us as a club are quite considerable.”
The club have been working closely with Salford Council on the problem..
Councillor David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety, said: “This is another example of how flytipping spoils communities and wastes precious council resources.
"There is no excuse for not disposing of rubbish properly and certainly no excuse for tipping shopping trolleys into a ditch. We will investigate and either clear the site or ask the landowner to do so.”
