Talgarth Football Club player Joel “Mole” Weale recently suffered a severe double leg break, fracturing both his tibia and fibula, while playing against Presteigne Football Club.

The injuries have required surgery and with a long recovery away from his self-employed work, the footballing community has nearly raised £5,000 for Joel.

The injury occurred in a Friday night match in Presteigne between Talgarth and Presteigne St Andrews, which was abandoned following the injury and left the Talgarth man on the field for several hours surrounded by people, blankets and hot drinks as they awaited the arrival of an ambulance.

Following the tough events, in an incredible act of kindness, Presteigne’s Jamie Williams had the idea to set up a go fund me page for Joel to keep him going whilst he’ll be away from work, and after a week they had raised £4,000.

“I thought it would just be a nice gesture because he is a self-employed lad and obviously he’s going to be out for a fair few months of recovery and rehabilitation,” said Jamie. “I’m self-employed myself so I realise how testing that would be for me, so I put myself in his shoes and I had been messaging the Talgarth manager anyway and said ‘why don’t we start a go fund me for him, what do you think’ and he was all for it and we checked with both clubs that they were happy for us to do it, and here we are.

“The game got abandoned and everyone went and got showered and the poor bloke was on the pitch still three hours later, and the ambulance got there at roughly midnight. Obviously he was covered in blankets with people all around him and taking him hot drinks. I was on the bar that evening so could see him still out on the pitch and just really felt for him.”

The total sits now at £4,200, just £800 short of the target. Speaking about it further, Jamie told The Brecon & Radnor Express: “We’re over the moon with it and it’s gone better than I thought. Some of these things I imagine they go on for quite a while and after a week we were up to 80% of the target so we couldn’t ask for anything better.

“Joel has said himself he can’t believe it’s happening, and he never expected it and he’s just really, really grateful for the support and generosity of everyone who has donated.”

At 39 years old, Joel has been a huge part of Talgarth Football Club for many years and was likely playing in some of his final seasons for the club. In fact, Joel had originally pulled out of the fixture earlier in the day through illness, but later decided to lace up his boots and help the team out.

Talgarth FC praised Presteigne for their hospitality towards Joel and said: “It was a brilliant example of what grassroots football is really about.”