A new football club has helped 42 men from Swindon lose more than 1,000lbs of weight between them in just nine months.

Organised by MAN v FAT Football, it's held at Kingsdown School, on Friday evenings from 7.30pm and is specifically aimed at overweight and obese men with a BMI of higher than 27.5. 

A fifth of the players have managed to lose 10 per cent of their starting bodyweight. Now organisers want more men to join the side.

Rob Ridley has already lost 4st with the help of the programme.

He said: "When I was at my heaviest weight, I tried to maintain regular exercise through competitive football, however, I found my fitness was causing me to become ineffective in games and I felt embarrassed that I couldn't help my team more. 

"Weight and fitness can have such an overwhelming impact on your life without you really noticing. Being part of MAN v FAT isn't like other weight loss programmes – you get the support of your team and opportunities will present themselves to increase fitness and lose weight outside the weekly games, like finding someone to train at the gym with. 

Richard Crick, Head of MAN v FAT said: "We are extremely proud of the progress made by our players, coaches and the wider team involved at our Swindon club.

"The club currently has spaces for new players, so if you're ready to shed some extra weight, while having fun and making new friends in the process - get in touch!"

MAN v FAT has 170 clubs around the UK and the total weight lost by players so far stands at around 416,000lbs.

It is an FA-affiliated scheme with nearly 8,000 players. The programme was created by Andrew Shanahan who was fed-up with traditional weight loss classes primarily aimed at women and decided to develop a programme that combines the beautiful game with achievable weight loss goals for men.

Players are weighedbefore a 30-minute game of six-a-side, with extra goal bonuses awarded to teams based on the amount of weight players have lost. Weight loss and match scores then contribute to teams' league positions within a club.