A FOOTBALL club has threatened police action after seeing a rise in dog-fouling on its pitch.

Askam United FC is urging the public to help tackle its 'ongoing problem' involving dog-fouling after noticing an increase in incidents.

Sean Hagan, club chairman, said the groundsman had to pick up seven separate piles of dog muck in one day, which he deemed 'unacceptable'.

"It's definitely something which has got worse as of late," he said.

"We have been given a few names but obviously we don't want to accuse anybody which we're not sure of.

"People are actually climbing over the fence in the car park to walk their dog on the pitch.

"We understand it's lockdown and you want a grassy area to walk your dogs and let them off their lead but to not clean up their filth just isn't on."

Mr Hagan also said increasing levels of dog-fouling may cause health issues when the football season returns.

"We're doing as much work as we can on the pitch ready for the season to go back," he said.

"We turned a blind eye to people walking on the pitch because it is lockdown and people need to exercise but dogs are not allowed.

"There's serious dangers with people playing football when there's dog muck around - it can cause blindness.

"There's going be kids playing and training on here so it has to stop.

"The referee will just stop the game if he sees it because it can be dangerous."

Mr Hagan is urging any dog-walkers to 'have respect' and refrain from taking their pets on the pitch.

"People know they're not meant to do it so they shouldn't be doing it," he said.

"You shouldn't have a dog if you're not prepared to clean up after it.Please just have a bit of respect for people using the club - we're all volunteers spending our time here."

In November last year, the club was also targeted by vandals in an overnight rampage which left a bench and bin in disrepair.

The bench, which is a popular meeting point for elderly people, was left unusable after vandals tore apart the bottom part of the seat.

This led bosses behind the club to consider upping security to combat the vandalism.

"We're trying to improve security around the pitch, especially after what happened last year," Mr Hagan said.

"We all put a lot of hard work into running the club and it's frustrating when things like this happen.

"We've put posters up about dog-fouling and told neighbours to keep an eye out, but if it keeps happening we'll have no option but to report it to the police. I just can't see any other solution."