A youth football club has urged Barking and Dagenham Council to let it stay on its home turf.

Shooting Stars YFC signed a contract with the town hall in September for it to play at St Chad's Park in Chadwell Heath until April 4.

But Covid-19 meant the club had to stop play until March. To compensate, the council extended contracts with clubs to June.

However, Shooting Stars was told a cricket club had booked the 35 acre park and both sports could not be played at the same time.

Club chairman, Prince Osei-Mensah, said: "It's not fair to prioritise cricket over football. It's not fair on the children."

He questioned why the club could not share St Chad's with cricketers, adding such an arrangement worked last summer.

A council spokesperson said all grassroots sport has been hit hard in the pandemic but, unlike football, cricket missed almost an entire season last year.

He said the issue stems from a Football Association decision to extend the grassroots season.

The authority offered Shooting Stars pitches at Parsloes Park in Dagenham, but the club says youngsters will not make the journey and the space is overcrowded.

In March, it wrote to Paul Clark, head of parks at the town hall, urging him to reverse the decision.

The spokesperson said the council has a significant investment going into Parsloes Park for new football provision, but it understands Shooting Stars wants to play in Chadwell Heath.

"We will do all we can to accommodate this, but it is going to take some work," he added.

Mr Osei-Mensah pointed to the club's work boosting youngsters' health and wellbeing, while Marie Jones said her 14 year-old son Moses would be gutted if he could not play at St Chad's.

The council spokesperson said the town hall is looking at a long-term solution and will involve the clubs in discussions.

"Ideally, we want all forms of sport co-existing in our parks. However, when we attract investment for elite standards of sport we also have to manage the uses of different park spaces to maintain those standards," the spokesperson said.