Carlisle United players help victims of severe flooding

Players from the first-team squad at League Two side Carlisle have stepped in to give a helping hand to their flood-affected neighbours.

The club's Brunton Park pitch was also affected by the floods which struck the surrounding area in the city, and remains underwater.

Fifteen first-team players decided they needed to do something to help on the way home from Sunday's FA Cup second-round victory at Welling.

They rolled up their sleeves to assist in the clean-up operation at several homes in Warwick Road, as well as visiting nearby Greystone Community Centre which has acted as a makeshift reception centre in the aftermath of Storm Desmond.

Among the properties they visited was that of the club's kit woman, Emma Maclagan, and her father, Bill Douthwaite, who is a car park attendant at Brunton Park. Douthwaite said it was "a wonderful thing" that the players had come to help.

He said: "It's a good family club anyway. That's what a football club should be about. It's all about spectators, the supporters of the club really. Players are here today, gone tomorrow, so are the people who own it, but the spectators are here forever. I have followed them since my dad first took me aged five.

"It's nice to get something back. To have your local team, your local heroes, do something for you is very nice."

Midfielder Luke Joyce, who helped clear Douthwaite's kitchen, said: "We are more than happy to help.

"It's terrible. When you watch it on telly you don't realise what's going on inside people's houses but when you come in here it's reality and it hit home the devastation caused. It's quite upsetting really.

"The Carlisle supporters every Saturday and Tuesday, win or lose, they are behind us giving us their full backing so it is the least we can do when they need us. It's nothing for us to give a few hours of our time and help them as much as we can."

Season-ticket holders Wilson and Angela Watson were delighted to welcome United players Charlie Wyke, Jason Kennedy and Joe Thompson into their home in Warwick Road.

After the trio shifted a heavy sideboard and a large oak table, together with stacking some chairs, they posed for a photograph with the couple.

Asked what the club's support meant to them, Wilson Watson, 73, said: "I think it's excellent. It doesn't matter if they didn't do anything. To just come and chat to people that's all that matters."

Carlisle goalkeeper Dan Hanford said he had to laugh when he spotted his wrecked vehicle in the club car park from a newspaper's aerial photograph of the damage. A wheelie ban sat atop his £25,000 written-off BMW which was one of seven players' cars damaged in the car park.

He said: "The cars are all covered by insurance and they can be replaced very quickly. Some people's lives have been lost in the flood. We are better off than thousands of others."

Pointing to the car, he said: "I want to smile about this because that's nothing. That's not my life, that's replaceable."

The clubhouse next to the ground which he shared with other players was among the many properties flooded in Warwick Road. Also submerged in water was a house nearby which he had just bought with his girlfriend.

He said: "I had friends who told me 'Dan, sorry to tell you but your house has gone'. When we turned up my girlfriend had a few tears in her eyes because we had bought everything for the house but luckily we had not moved in."

Hanford said that Sunday's FA Cup win over Welling was not just for themselves but also the fans and the community.

"Everyone here at Carlisle has been pushing us all season, and even when you looked at the bad season we had last year they were still behind us," he added. "Now I think it's time for the players to give back to the community, to help everyone with their homes, help move things out, whatever they need doing.

"That's not just going to be for one day, that's going to be whenever they need us."