THE Cambridgeshire FA and the county council are to look into the state of football provision in March.

Estover Park officials are pleading for help from the authorities to improve the state of their home ground at Estover Road Playing Field.

Debate continues to range on community website Shape Your Place about the club’s “vile” facilities and the lack of alternatives in the town.

A county council spokesman said on the website: “The Cambridgeshire Football Association and the County Council are commissioning a piece of research into current football provision in March and how this might best be met in the short and longer terms.

“It is important to consider the context of the Estover Road Playing Fields against the overall backdrop, so that a logical and supportable stance can be taken in moving forward with proposals that seek to address both established needs and future planned growth in the town.”

Efforts to improve the club’s facilities have grown following our exclusive story about Estover Park’s players admitting they preferred to play away games.

Steve Jackson, club secretary, told the Cambs Times/Wisbech Standard that the facilities were a “disgrace” and that “they should be condemned.”

Gary Davis, girls’ under-15s manager, has gone one step further and refused to let his team play at the ground again.

Park, set up in 2005, have two men’s and four youth teams, three of which host their home matches elsewhere.

March Saracans host Sunday league games at the field but the town’s athletic club and March Rangers have already relocated to the nearby Elm Road Sports Field.

Mr Davis said on the website that the developments were “good news” and that the club, and Susan Clenshaw, chairman of the playing field’s association are “keen to assist and provide constructive input”.

However, the club’s youth team coach Teilo Pearce said that although “research is fine” he could “prove with minimal effort that development is needed and viable.”

Battered dressing rooms, unflushable toilets, broken glass and a pothole-ridden pitch covered in dog mess are just some of the treats in store for footballers playing at the field.