Council blasts football strip

9:02am Friday 17th August 2007

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A team of footballers who stripped off in their local park for a nude calendar have been shown the yellow card by councillors.

Members of Buxted Parish Council said players from Buxted FC went too far when they posed for a photoshoot on the recreation ground without asking permission.

And they ordered them to get prior approval for any stunts they line up in future.

Buxted councillor Alison Crowe said: "The photoshoot they did was on a sunny Sunday afternoon when normally parents would be walking with their children.

"No-one knew about it until they got here and got down to their underpants.

"The council may not have actually granted permission to the nude calendar. I'm not sure how many other other villages, in the middle of summer on a nice day, would allow a football club to pose nude in public.

"Our concern is that the football club, despite us telling them numerous times in writing, has increasingly treated the recreation grounds as their own private property. It's not their land, it's the village green."

Councillor Crowe said the saucy calendar, which is due to be launched at the club's celebrity football match on September 2, was one of several events the council had not been informed of.

She said: "Earlier this year, after the village fete, they were going to hold a barbecue. The only time I heard about it was on the night they put up posters.

"We found out immediately after the photoshoot that they have planned a celebrity football game for September. But the council hasn't been asked for permission.

"You can't just turn up and do what you feel like. I couldn't go over there and suddenly decide to put up a marquee. You ask for permission and you get it.

"They've overstepped the mark. There are health and safety and public liability insurance requirements for using any public space.

"We already have an insurance claim from the football club when someone was injured."

The council called a meeting with the club to discuss leasing requirements for the pavilion and procedures for organising events.

Speaking after the meeting, Jerry Gun, the captain of Buxted's 1st team, said the club did not know about the procedures.

He said: "We can understand why they were worried about people running about in the nude. But we didn't know about the rules and regulations for holding our celebrity match or photoshoot."

The celebrity football match event will kick off at midday with an under-14s game. The main match - a Buxted v Celebrities game in which England stars Les Ferdinand, John Terry and John Barnes are rumoured to be making appearances - starts at 3pm.

Entry is £3.50 on the gate. All funds are to be split between the club and Fresh2o, a charity which provides drinking water for third world communities.