Sunday League football match in Portsmouth abandoned at half-time after players and chairman's belongings stolen during game

The match between AFC Eastney and Freehouse A was called off at half-time when players found a dressing room had been broken into.

Bags containing car keys, debit cards, mobile phones and personal IDs were stolen from AFC Eastney players at Bransbury Park on Sunday morning.

John Bradford, the chairman of AFC Eastney, said he was outraged after found out what happened.

He told The News: ‘That is the first time 20 years of us using that pitch that we’ve had this sort of problem.

‘It’s never happened before.

‘We’ve seen vandalism down there when the pitches weren’t being used - people breaking the windows, attempting to take wood off the huts, and even a fire – but nothing that happened when a game was going on before.’

Mr Bradford, who has been coaching and running football teams in Portsmouth for more than 20 years, discovered the break in at half-time.

AFC Eastney’s first-team were playing against Freehouse A, in the City of Portsmouth Sunday Football League, Division Five.

He was on his way to the dressing room with one of his players and said the padlocked door to the changing room had been ‘kicked in.’

‘All the bags were gone’, said the chairman. ‘The weird thing was they even took one of my bags that wasn’t worth anything.

‘It just had three or four pairs of old boots and shin pads in.’

Once he saw the team’s belongings had been stolen, the chairman asked the referee to abandon the game.

Mr Bradford said the opposition protested, but then backed down when they ‘realised how serious the situation was’.

AFC Eastney were not penalised for the match being called off.

The chairman said he and the players were ‘really upset’ by the ordeal, with one member of the squad having to spend £180 on new electric car keys.

He added: ‘I’m really upset, because it’s my players involved and we had to abandon the game at half time.

‘I told the league that their stuff is more important than a game of Sunday league football, and I was told I was right to stop the game.

‘Even if it was an issue, I would have just given them the game.’

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Mr Bradford has since criticised Portsmouth City Council for removing a groundsman who used to look after the pitch and changing rooms at Bransbury Park.

He said: ‘The groundsman used to check the pitches, put the corner flags out, sort out the nets, and then sort out the changing rooms.

‘The worse thing is if they had not changed that system, and still had the groundsman there, this would not have happened.’

The News understands that Hampshire police is aware of the theft.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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