A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy today spoke of the horrific moment when his leg was impaled on a four-foot long railing as he played football.

Abu-Bakr Mahmood relived the accident as it was revealed Lancashire County Council had launched an inquiry into the incident, which occurred at around 1.30pm on Sunday.

Abu-Bakr, of Bacup Road, Rawtenstall, fell on to the spiked rail when he was tackled during a football practice run by Positive Start - a community initiative to get children involved in group activities - at Alder Grange playing fields.

It became embedded in his right thigh and firefighters had to use a hacksaw to free him.

The Clough Fold primary school pupil was taken to Burnley General Hospital for surgery to remove the shards from his leg.

Abu-Bakr, a Liverpool fan whose hero is Steven Gerrard, is hoping to be off his crutches and back on the pitch before too long, though his recovery could take months.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Abu-Bakr said: "I was going to score a goal and I got tackled and fell into the railing. My leg is very sore.

"I really enjoy football and want to play for Liverpool."

His father Tariq, 41, was already at the hospital when the ambulance arrived as his wife, Farzana, 32, had just given birth to the couple's sixth child, a baby girl who has not yet been named.

Mr Mahmood said: "I was just shocked when my daughter rang me and we were all afraid it had gone into his bone or something.

"Abu-Bakr is a really friendly, sensible little boy, who loves his football and has just started cricket as well so he's going to be a bit upset about missing all his sports for a while.

"The spike was about one-and-a-half inches into his leg and the doctor says the muscle is slightly damaged, but other than that, he's lucky and has been very brave.

"I would like to speak to Lancashire County Council and see if the railings can be better maintained. I know how old they are because I used to play there.

"It's an excellent sports facility and I wouldn't like to see it close but I would hate for this to happen to anyone else."

The group coach, Abdul Malik, who is helping to set up the under-12s club with Positive Start, said: "He went flying during a tackle at the edge of the field and the post went right into him. The post was in the long grass and we hadn't seen it, it must have been pulled out at some point.

"Abu-Bakr was very brave and kept talking while the fire brigade and ambulance were there. It was unbelievable."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We have been made aware that an accident happened during a football match at the playing field which had been hired from ourselves by Positive Start. We will be sending out a member of staff to the scene of the accident and a full report will then be completed into what happened."

The incident has also been reported to the Health and Safety Executive.