Glastonbury Festival has banned a pro-hunting group from fundraising on their site during future festivals, saying that they are “absolutely not pro-hunting”.

The ban comes after it emerged this week that the Mendip Farmers Hunt group in Somerset blamed one reason for their “poor financial state“ in 2020 on the loss of income from providing stewards for Glastonbury 2020, which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

ITV News reports how the anti-badger cull organisation Innocent Badger uncovered the minutes from the recent meeting held by the group, revealing the link between the Hunt and Glastonbury.

Glastonbury employs thousands of stewards across its site each year who are recruited “by a team of steward coordinators… with these organisations benefiting from the fees paid to the stewards”.

A spokesperson for Glastonbury told ITV News: “Glastonbury Festival is absolutely not pro-hunting, and we do not – and would not – donate directly to any hunts.

“It has been brought to our attention that a group of these stewards represented a local hunt. We can confirm that this group will not be stewarding at Glastonbury in the future, and that we have fully vetted our list of stewarding groups to ensure that there are no other hunting organisations represented on it.”

Mendip Farmers Hunt has not yet commented on their ban. NME has contacted the group for comment.

It is still unclear if Glastonbury will be able to go ahead in 2021, with festival boss Emily Eavis admitting last month that they are “a long way” away from being able to confirm this year’s event.

Eavis did confirm earlier this month that ticketholders for 2021 would be able to roll over their tickets until the 2022 festival if it doesn’t go ahead as planned this summer.