A STROUD jazz band is backing a fundraising campaign for a Sierra Leone football team who had their limbs chopped off with machetes in the civil war.

At first the money raised was going to be put towards sending the footballers to the Amputee Football World Cup in Mexico which they had qualified for.

But then Ebola came along and despite being allowed to go to Mexico if they were proven free of the deadly disease the other teams refused to play them.

A Stroud father and son partnership John and Tom, 19, Meadley had both been members of the big band, Jazz Friday and started the drive to raise money for the team after they had met them in 2012.

John who had previously worked as an overseas agriculturalist in Sierra Leone took his 16-year-old son to visit the country after his GCSEs.

While they were there they heard about the amputee footballers so they went to watch them train at the beach.

The group had been set up by an American lady and the game has two fundamental rules, firstly goalies are only allowed one arm and secondly players are only allowed one leg.

Commenting on watching the team play football with crutches John said: “We saw them playing and loved them.

"The sense of humour of these guys is just amazing.

“Football is something that really keeps them going.

“These people are an embarrassment to the government.

“They don't know what to do with them because nobody wants to employ them.

“They were due to go to Mexico in November 2014 and Ebola came out in the late summer before that and since the other teams wouldn't play against them we thought, oh well, we'll keep raising money for them anyway to help them start their own businesses."

For more details about the performance dates of Jazz Friday see www.jazzfriday.co.uk or to donate directly go to http://bit.ly/1CMK8C9