A FOOTBALL club in Newport opened up the turnstiles to help the homeless community at their game on Saturday.

Newport City FC played West End in the Welsh League Division Two, and ahead of the game, the club invited homeless people in the community to their Newport Stadium home.

As well as a free ticket for the match, they were provided with free hot food and drinks, with sausage rolls being donated by Greggs, as well as clothing donated by the club and the local community.

Homelessness charity Help the Homeless Newport arranged a minibus for travel to and from the game.

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City chairman Sam Houldsworth said: “I’d like to thank all our players and volunteers who donated clothing, and everyone in the community and businesses who supported us. I’d also like to thank Help the Homeless Newport and Eden Gate Newport.

“They’ve taken six big bags of clothing back with them too.

“It seems like everyone had a good day and had plenty of food and drink.

“Hopefully we can do something to help out regularly throughout the year.”

Gemma Walker, from Help the Homeless Newport, said: “Today gives the guys an opportunity to get away from their struggles for a while and enjoy something.

“We brought about 10 people on the minibus, and we could see people from other hostels around Newport make their way here too.

“They were all keen to watch the match.

“We gave them each a bag with a bottle of water, snacks and a hat and gloves, as it is getting cold out there now.

“Hopefully we can continue to work closely with Newport City again, and we’d like to thank them for organising this.

“It’s nice to see everyone pulling together. We can’t end homelessness, but we can help the guys out and try to put a smile on their face.”