Staff from Chengdu Blades have become aid relief volunteers to help local people recover from the biggest disaster to hit China for 30 years.

Club directors Tony Xu and Ma Mingyu, along with 15 members of staff, today (16th May) visited the epicentre where the 7.9 earthquake hit the Sichuan province earlier this week.

Chengdu Blades are the sister club of Sheffield United and players and staff from the Chinese club have donated more than £11,000 and given blood to support people affected.

Much needed tents, clothes, umbrellas, water and food, along with more than 5,000 Chengdu Blades and Sheffield United shirts are also being provided by the club.

Chengdu Blades, the only top flight professional side in the Sichuan province, have also sent their youth team to schools in the area to console students.

Tony Xu, director of Chengdu Blades, said: "This is a very sad moment for the whole country. We have received many calls from friends within China and from the UK, offering their concerns, which we are grateful for.

"Luckily all our staff are safe, but we have remember the many thousand people who have died or lost relatives and friends.

"We are a peoples club and everyone is part of our family. Football is a sport, but more importantly it is a way to communicate to the people. It's our responsibility to do everything we can to help the people whether they are fans of the club or not."

More than 20,000 people have been confirmed dead after the Wenchuan earthquake, with another 30,000 still missing.

Xu Yiwen, captain of the Chengdu Blades' U19s, added: "We can't all go to the disaster area to support the people in person because we still have a match to play. But we hope to help them and donating blood is the only thing we can do at the moment."

Chegndu Blades' first team have flown to Chasha today (16th May) to play their match against Changsha Jinde on Saturday in the China Super League.

The players have been unable to train all week because the region is still receiving aftershocks following the earthquake.

At this weekend's match in Changsha, the team will wear the salvage hotline number on their shirts, players will wear black armbands and have a minute's silence before kick-off.