THE chronic shortage of football pitches in west Wiltshire has forced the Trowbridge League to take drastic action to compete this season's fixtures.

Two of the three Division Three sides, Apetito and The Stiffs, who stage home matches at the John of Gaunt School, Trowbridge, are being asked to play some games on their opponents' ground. Several others, including AFC Trowbridge Wanderers will face a similar situation in the next two months.

A league spokesman said: "Obviously no one can control the weather but six matches, five through waterlogged pitches, have so far been lost at this venue leaving 32 outstanding league games to be played there. Even staging three games a week, a completion of fixtures is impossible.

"In hindsight we probably should not have allowed three teams to play at one venue, but circumstances dictated at the time."

There is likely to be a knock-on effect with the league losing teams because of the lack of pitches.

There is also likely to be a financial downside with the venue losing revenue when the home team is required to play that fixture away.

Home teams will incur extra travelling expenses as well as some away sides staging the match requiring payment for the hire of their ground. Another affect is on sponsorship. Steve Rainey at The Black Horse, Frome Road, who sponsors the after the match buffet for The Stiffs and opponents, said: "Our takings will be significantly down. I fully understand the situation the league find themselves in but I am not happy."

Adrian Giles, manager of The Stiffs, said: "When we play home games at places like Bradford there is every likelihood that we shall return to the pub afterwards. But travelling to the likes of Lavington will mean both sides not making an after the match visit which we would do if we were playing at John of Gaunt."