A Norwich football league helping men lose weight through the beautiful game and supporting their community has been nominated for a national award.

Man V Fat Football has 78 leagues across the country, including in Norwich, which has been running at Thorpe St Andrew School since January 2018.

Teams were able to return to the pitch in August after five months following the first national lockdown.

It has been named one of the four finalists in the organisation's annual awards, which will be announced on January 30.

Norwich Evening News: Players in the Norwich Man V Fat league.Players in the Norwich Man V Fat league. (Image: Man V Fat)

In its nomination judges said about the league: “More than just a “Fine City”, our most easterly MAN v FAT Football league in Norwich is setting a fine example of showing that, when a community comes together, everybody sees results.

"Community is a huge part of the Norwich league and as well as delivering personal results on the scales (just shy of 1500kg), the guys also love to give back to their community, in the form of supporting charitable causes such as donations to the homeless every Christmas as well as helping their local foodbanks.”

Norwich Evening News: The Finding Nederland team are a finalist at this year's Man V Fat awards for Team of the Year.The Finding Nederland team are a finalist at this year's Man V Fat awards for Team of the Year. (Image: Man V Fat)

It is not the only nomination for the league, with players from Norwich team Leaving Nederland a finalist for Team of the Year.

The squad of Colin Barrett , Andy Leveridge, Craig Hughes , David Browne, Gareth Day, Jamie Hutchings Lee Mitchell, Mark Bowen, Niall Sully and Thomas Mortimer have been praised for their teamwork off the pitch during the pandemic.

The nomination said: "They have been put forward not because of the amount of weight they lose or their ability on the pitch, but the sense of togetherness and positivity they bring to themselves and the others in the league.

"During the lockdown, nearly every player in the team faced troubling times because of the pandemic.

"This included a player becoming a first time father through a difficult labour and birth, a player who went through homelessness and others receiving redundancies because of COVID, but, despite these setbacks, they continued to virtually support each other to get themselves through the troubling months and back onto the pitch together as a team.”