Woodkirk Valley FC hit by vandals

Players, parents and officials connected to Woodkirk Valley FC turned up on Saturday morning to discover a freshly abandoned tent next to the remnants of a bonfire that had decimated an area of the pitch.

The weekend should have been one of celebration for the club, with two of its teams playing each other in a friendly match before a barbecue and a tournament for the players’ dads.

But the event was overshadowed as police were called to recover evidence from the scene. A rucksack bearing its owner’s name had been left behind.

Steve Rose, football development officer at Woodkirk Valley, said abount£600 worth of damage had been done.

“We arrived at the pitch about an hour and a half before kick off on Saturday and we instantly found drinks bottles all over the field and a tent.

“We must have disturbed them and they ran off just as we came by.

“It’s very frustrating for us. Even though its private property, we don’t want to stop teenagers having a kick about with their mates on the field but we’re taking a zero tolerance stance on this kind of vandalism and we’ve asked the police to prosecute those responsible.

“As a result of both incidents we’re now around £1,500 behind where we’d like to be as a club.

“We will have to invest our own time rebuilding the fence because it would cost even more if we got somebody else to do it.”