Mark Watson and brother Paul are holding a comedy fundraiser this Sunday for Pohnpei, a tiny Pacific island state with the poorest football association in the world.

The state is beset by obesity, diabetes, alcohol and anti-social problems in part due to the lack of access or encouragement to partake in sport – the Federated States of Micronesia have never received money from FIFA and have no government support for football.

In the spirit of 'if you want something done ...' Paul got to work, and in the past 12 months has set up a league, six clubs and a state team, and Sunday's gig will go towards the target of £10k for Pohnpei's team to tour the (relatively!) nearby Guam.

Doffed caps all round, then, and LiF heartily encourages you to show your support and head to Leicester Square Theatre for Sunday's gig.

First, a word with the two Watsons ...

How did you get involved with Pohnpei Soccer?

Mark: My brother, stupidly, decided to try to become an international football coach, despite the fact that this is not a sustainable ambition for people like us, ie people who have never been professional footballers or coaches.

Even more stupidly he followed the idea through, made the relevant contacts, gave up his job, went out to one of the remotest spots in the world, and has now raised a team from nothing. As I say, the whole thing is stupid. I’m watching with fascination from the sidelines.

Paul: I was working as a journalist and playing football at a semi-professional level. At the time I was living with my mate Matt Conrad and together we came up with the idea of researching the most remote football nations for a documentary.

The most obscure team we could find was Pohnpei in Micronesia. We contacted the head of their FA on their website, a man called Charles Musana. He replied to tell us he had just moved to Chingford in East London! We arranged to meet him and were staggered when he actually turned up – we had assumed it was a prank involving one our mates and we later found out Charles also believed it to be a joke.

We spoke and Charles told us there was no coach on the island and the team was struggling, he suggested we got out and coach. So, I dropped my job and did it!

What is Pohnpei like?

Mark: Paul’s better placed to answer this, but by the sound of it, it’s wet, has about 30,000 people or something like that, and is not a sporting hotbed. So I picture it a bit like Cheltenham.

Paul: Pohnpei is a little island paradise but a very rainy one. In fact it is the third wettest place in the world, so a lot of our training sessions are more like water polo. I'm from Bristol and it rains a lot there, but it's even wetter than that.

What would your childhood have been like if you didn't have somewhere to play football or a team to support?

Mark: This is unthinkable. It’s like asking what childhood would have been like without trousers. And the answer is the same: at best pretty lonely, at worst unlivable.

Paul: For me and Mark football was an all-encompassing element of our childhoods. At any given time we would be playing it, watching Bristol City try to play it, playing a computer game version of it or reading about it. I can only imagine that if I hadn't had football as a kid I'd be a well-rounded person with lots of different interests and talents – I'd probably understand things like politics and animals.

What do the people of Pohnpei think or know about our Premier League?

Mark: Again, a question for Paul really. Virtually everywhere in the world now is obsessed with our Premier League – I saw people wearing Bolton and West Ham shirts in Senegal last week, for example. Having said that, it sounds like Pohnpei is so out of the loop you’re reduced to watching basketball. Which is no life for anyone.

Paul: Premier League football used to be on TV in Pohnpei until around 18 months ago when the contracts changed. Now they only get Serie A, La Liga and the Champions League. I'm praying they get the World Cup because I'll be there for that. Most people know of Manchester United etc (and now, weirdly, Yeovil Town because they donated shirts for one of our club teams) but to watch football you need cable TV and most can't afford it. The majority of my team had very rarely watched professional football on TV when I arrived.

Are you any good at football?

Mark: No. I’m too slow and too light – easily shoved off the ball. I do have a cunning football brain though, can pass a ball, and have plenty of stamina, so I get up and down the pitch very well. I’ve got what commentators call a ‘big heart’ in other words. But I don’t have what they call ‘much skill’.

Who will be appearing on the 23rd?

Mark: Me and a lot of other comedians and some non-comedians. But I can’t tell you more than that. It’s called Mark Watson’s Football Shambles, remember. Not Mark Watson’s Well Put Together And Solidly Thought-Through Fundraiser.

Paul: Not really.

Here's that link again to Sunday's fundraiser. Good luck fellas.