Jane Baker and her 10-year-old son from Penegoes were left without a working loo throughout Christmas after she noticed a bad smell coming from her garden - the consequence of a collapsed sewage pipe.
The solo mum was quoted £5,000 for the work that would involve digging up her garden.
Unable to afford to fix the issue that was forcing the pair to venture out in the cold to an unheated garage loo across December and January, her football team came to her aid.
After finding out about the issue, team members of Machynlleth’s unaffiliated Thunder and Lightning Women and Non-Binary football team offered to do the work for free.
Jane, 44, a part-time development worker for the charity Social Farms and Gardens, said: “I was completely blown away - it meant a lot.
“[Being without a loo] was quite hard with a 10-year-old and nighttimes and emergency loo visits!
“I didn’t have that sort of money, especially before Christmas.
“I mentioned the problem, and they organised it during the space of one match.
“People took time off work and put in seven hours of physical labour.
“It’s incredible to be able to use the loo again!”
The five team members - a writer, an illustrator, a masseuse, an environmentalist and a plumber- arrived on the day with music, homemade flapjack and a can-do attitude.
The team successfully found the 60-year-old pitch-fibre pipe, which had warped internally, removed it, replaced it with a plastic one and back-filled the hole in one day on 19 January.
The cost of it for Jane was the new pipe, and tea and biscuits to fuel the team.
The Thunder and Lightning team has been going for 18 months, run as an open space for beginners, including Jane.
After a tough year, which included a car accident, flooded garage, and a significantly ill parent, she said: “Without the team, this year could’ve been really different for me.
“I found my confidence there, developed some skills and felt really at home in the group, which is really significant for me.
“I felt really supported by them.
“I don’t know how to express that enough.”
Thunder and Lightning team captain Siân Stacey said: “When we started the Machynlleth Thunder & Lightning football team in 2024, we wanted to create a place for women and non-binary people to have fun, play, maybe learn some new football skills, and get to know new people.
“What we’ve ended up with is the most incredible community of people.
“Helping one of our fellow players out this week is the perfect example of that.
“We brought our on-field team work and support directly to Jane.
“To us, football is about so much more than how many goals or saves were made; it’s about having a really good run around with a ball and some friends when things are hard, and knowing this can make all the difference to our weeks.”
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