A non-league footy team was banned from playing at home for a month - because of bird poo.

Spelthorne Sports FC - known as The Spelly - had a match against postponed at the eleventh hour after their ground was deemed unsafe because of geese droppings.

The club then had to undergo a series of inspections before they were cleared to use their Ashford Common pitch - a process that took four weeks.

The Spelly, who play Combined Counties League Division One, are now back in action at their home ground.

But secretary Yvonne Hunter branded the ordeal as "ridiculous" - and believes a team playing in the tenth tier of English football should not be held to Premier League standards."

She said: "The game's gone a bit woke. It's been a nightmare. It has been just ridiculous."

"This is what non-league football is about. We want to play football, have a shower after and then have a drink together. "

"It's not Premier League football and that's not how it should be."

The club's troubles began after geese invaded their pitch this summer, forcing their August Bank Holiday match against Wembley FC to be postponed.

A statement at the time explained that their ground had had a recent influx of Canadian geese - who had made a 'fowl' mess on the pitch.

League officials then imposed a two-week closure on The Spelly, asking them to clean their pitch.

Four weeks later, the pitch was visited by the Grounds Management Association and the Middlesex FA, who were said to both be happy.

But the league told them they still needed experts to confirm there were no "underlying bacterial issues" before they could allow matches to go ahead. "

Ms Hunter said the delays in their pitch being given the all-clear even resulted in players leaving for rival clubs, as well as a loss of revenue from home games for the grassroots team.

The team had to play home matches at other grounds in the interim.

She said: "One of the issues we've had is that, where we've had no football, some of our players have actually left for other teams."

"We've lost about four players, because they just wanted to play football. "

"We had a report done and did everything we'd been asked to do. "

"Yes, we had geese, but we had the pitch cleaned; we are not a big club and our groundsman doesn't work 24 hours a day. "

"We just got on with it. We cleared as much as we could, but the geese eat grass and that's what they poo out. "

"You don't have to eat it and you can have a shower afterwards. "

"But we were made out to be an atrocious club that was not looking after its ground. "

"If you play football at this level, you know how it works. They are setting a precedent: any grass pitch could have anything on it."

"They are open to the elements - there are geese, pigeons, sheep, foxes..."

"We haven't seen the geese for a while, but we had a really warm summer. "

"All the grass around us was dead apart from our pitch. Our sprinklers were on all of the time, so 25 to 30 geese came here."

Ms Hunter says groundsmen now do their best to shoo geese away at the earliest opportunity, for fear of being reported again.

"You can guarantee someone will use it to their advantage," she said. "Someone will say, 'Look, it's not playable'. "

"It's ridiculous. What are you going to do, ban outdoor sports for everbody because we play on grass? "

Spelthorne Sports FC currently sit at 18th in the 23-team Combined Counties League Division One table.