A CAERPHILLY-BASED rugby club has had its season disrupted after their pitch was covered in waste following torrential rain.

The rain led to a sewage pipe overflowing on to Abercarn RFC’s pitch, covering the playing surface in waste.

This led to matches on March 6 and March 13 being postponed, as, due to health concerns, the pitch had been left unplayable.

Welsh Water have apologised for the issue, and have said that they are investigating how to overcome this.

A club volunteer said: “It’s embarrassing. No-one wants to play on a pitch that has been flooded in sewage.

“We were supposed to be playing Monmouth, but that has had to be postponed.

South Wales Argus:

Sewage on the pitch at Abercarn RFC.

“We have 150 young kids that train on the ground. They can’t use it now.

“Sewage has leaked on to the pitch and we are right next to the river, so the run off is going in the river.

“There are sanitary products and toilet paper on the pitch.

“Over the years we have had a problem during torrential periods of rain, but this year it has been much more common.”

A Welsh Water spokesman said: “We are aware of the issue of flooding from a manhole at Abercarn Rugby club during heavy rain and are committed to seeking to resolve the situation.

“The main cause of the flooding is too much rain water entering the system and we are working hard to understand how we can address this.

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"We have already carried out maintenance work within our network and are currently carrying out investigation work to identify areas where we can reduce the volume of surface water that enters into the system.

"We are also carrying out further investigation work to see what long term improvements may be needed to increase the capacity within the sewer network so that we can manage the more extreme weather conditions.

“Following Saturday’s extreme heavy rain, our team attended Abercarn Rugby Club early on Sunday morning to carry out an inspection of the manhole and found that it had overflowed.

"The team have carried out an initial clean-up and have arranged for a team to carry a follow-up visit.

"We remain in close contact with Abercarn Rugby Club and will continue to work with them to resolve the issue.

"We would like to apologies for the inconvenience caused.”

Caerphilly council said that it has been in dialogue with Welsh Water to resolve the issue and that Welsh Water had arranged a meeting with concerned parties.