HARD-UP local football teams are having to look for newer and ever creative ways to stay afloat due to rising costs.

Among them is Oxford Blackbirds FC which launched its own webpage last month with online platform 'My Club Betting' as a means of bringing in much-needed extra funds.

It allows fans and family members aged 18 and over to create an account on the website to place bets on forthcoming games.

Coach Stuart Parsons said just £2 - and a new football - had been raised initially but hoped the number of people using the service would swell in the future.

He added: "It's just about getting it off the ground and it's extra revenue for us. The club itself is broke."

The Oxford Blackbirds will get 20 per cent of the bookmakers' profits, and receive free kit and equipment as the supporters sign up.

Although each individual team has a sponsor, many of which are local groups including Angela Porter Solicitors, Planet IT and OxVox, Mr Parsons said the club itself, which plays in Blackbird Leys Park, had no money and no promise of grants in the future. It generally costs £40 or more for adult pitch hire and at least £20 for referees.

He said: "Football is a very under-funded sport and everything seems to be very expensive; the money that comes in goes out in helping towards funding stuff for the teams.

"I am 100 per cent worried. Grassroots football seems to be ok on the kids side but with men's football it's dying a slow death because it's priced out of the market."

Greater Leys FC welfare officer Ian Fieldwick said the estate's other team was in the process of setting up a men's team with money from the Oxford Football Association.

He said: "It's expensive for children's football but I think it goes up a lot when you have a young adults' team.

"Funding is always a problem. We do get some but it's a struggle with the climate nowadays. Really we try to keep our ear to the ground to see if there's money available."

Rae Humberstone, who represents Blackbird Leys on Oxford City Council, said it was "vital" to keep both teams running.

He said: "The Oxford Blackbirds and Greater Leys have been two fantastic outfits; you only have to look at the number of kids there. We need to keep them going.

"Myself and my fellow Leys councillors are more than happy to help in any way we can. I can always help them out via my ward spend budget."