A promising young football team battling eviction from its Raynes Park home has been told the game has been banned altogether from the ground.

Nuwood FC, which is based at Drax Playing Fields in Preston Road, has been fighting the council to keep its ground, amid fears it may fold altogether if it becomes homeless.

Yet now Nuwood's managers, who are striving to keep their teams Merton-based following the mass-exodus of football clubs from the bor-ough, have been football bookings have been banned from the area for an entire season.

Club secretary Bob Watson said: "This means our club will probably close down. Eight teams will go to the wall and they have already lost a big club.

"I know it's not a statutory requirement for them to pro-vide a ground, but everyone, including Mr Blair, talks about the importance of grass roots football."

Mr Watson says the scores of talented youngsters who play for Nuwood will be at a loss if it closes down.

Yet residents in the area say problems with drinking among older players and lit-ter caused them to object to the club taking over the ground full time. Jill Truman, who lives nearby, said: "We have absolutely no objection to anybody playing football. It is what goes on after. Cove-nants covering the ground say it should be used for school children and it shouldn't be used for drinking."

Residents put together a bid to run the ground and invest in the pavilion so they could lease it out to a variety of sports clubs in the area, although neither this, nor Nuwood's bid, were accepted by the council.

Robert Hobbs, Mer-ton's head of commu-nity and cultural services, said: "While the council supports football in the bor-ough, there have been legitimate local con-cerns about Drax playing fields being used by the team.

"It has been decided not to have football on the pitch for a sea-son while we review the future use of the site. In the meantime, we are looking at alternative pitches Nuwood FC could use on a straightforward hire basis."

April 28, 2003 17:00