A FOOTBALLING-CRAZY teenager and his friends have scored a major success to lay a pitch in their small village.

Wayne Davies, 16, first started arguing that his east Cleveland village should have a football pitch when he was ten.

Now, after a six-year campaign, Wayne and his friends have opened a full-size pitch near their homes at Liverton Mines, on the northern edge of the North York moors.

They received a grant of £2,222 from the Single Regeneration Bid (SRB) Pathways to Inclusion programme and money from One NorthEast to open the pitch.

Wayne, secretary of the Liverton Mines Community Group and a pupil at Freebrough College, in Loftus, said: "I am really satisfied with what we have done. I had waited six years for something to happen and nothing did, so I thought I would have a go myself and get everyone on my side."

The keen footballers of the village have set up regular friendly fixtures with neighbouring villages and now they are kitted out in an orange and black strip, donated by Rab Paton, the owner of Timms Coffee House, in Skinningrove. Wayne is also investigating the chances of joining a Sunday football league.

Councillor Dave Walsh, the leader of Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and Loftus ward councillor, helped Wayne make the successful application to the SRB fund.

He said: "The youngsters identified a particular need, which was a serious lack of play facilities in the village, and made the first step towards developments.

"This is a good example of self-help by a group of youngsters which will hopefully lead to bigger things. I am looking forward to Man U versus Liverton Mines in 2013."

Eric Jackson, the mayor for Redcar and Cleveland, has nominated Wayne to receive a Community Achievement Award, to be presented in the council chamber at Eston at the end of the month.

He said: "You hear all sorts of negative stories about the youth of today. Well, here is a really good one, a terrific example of a young person getting involved in the community and getting results."