Football club helps 40 Bexhill overweight and obese men lose 350kg

New players from some postcodes in the county may be able to benefit from a free 14-week season as part of a partnership with One You East Sussex.

Before matches players are weighed followed by a 30-minute game of six-a-side football. Extra goal bonuses are awarded to teams based on the amount of weight players have lost.

Weight loss and match scores contribute to teams’ league positions within a club. Players receive additional support including healthy meal recipe ideas and tips on general fitness.

Neil Sutcliffe, a coach at the Bexhill club who was formerly a MAN v FAT player and lost 50 pounds with the help of the programme, said: “Your weight loss journey with us will be fun, supportive and focused, joining a group of amazing guys of varied ages and footballing abilities.

“Football is the vehicle, weight loss is the journey. My advice to anyone unsure about joining is to have a go. You have nothing to lose except weight!

"People are put off sometimes because they may feel their football skills are not going to be good enough. Maybe they have not played in years and can’t run as fast as before - at MAN v FAT some guys are physically unable to run, some guys haven’t played football before.

“Ability doesn’t matter. You can win goals for your team through weight loss, you get goals for tracking what you eat or a hat-trick for your team every three times you lose weight regardless of how the on-pitch game goes.”

MAN v FAT is an FA-affiliated scheme which has more than 15,000 players taking part in over 170 clubs across the UK.

The programme was created by Andrew Shanahan, who decided to develop a scheme that combines sport with achievable weight loss goals for men. Non-funded subscriptions usually cost £28.50 per month.

The total amount of weight lost by MAN v FAT players in the UK currently stands at around 460,000 pounds.

For more information please visit the MAN v FAT website.