Vandals cause ‘thousands of pounds’ of damage after digging up Baffins Milton Rovers pitch with a tractor

A FOOTBALL club is facing a bill of ‘thousands of pounds’ after vandals used a tractor to smash through stadium fencing before digging up the pitch.
By Neil Fatkin
Published 18th Mar 2020, 06:00 BST
Updated 18th Mar 2020, 09:23 BST
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Club officials from Baffins Milton Rovers FC arrived at the Kendall Stadium on Tuesday morning to find the pitch ‘ripped to shreds’ along with broken fencing and damaged equipment, including the club’s lawn mower.

Team manager Steve Leigh said: ‘This is just a mindless act which has been very damaging to the club’s finances. We’ve had problems with our pitch this season but I was at the ground earlier today and it was looking in good condition. God knows why someone would do this.

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‘Volunteers give up a lot of their time to look after the ground and then some idiot comes along and does this.’

The abandoned tractor on the Baffins Milton Rovers FC's pitch.The abandoned tractor on the Baffins Milton Rovers FC's pitch.
The abandoned tractor on the Baffins Milton Rovers FC's pitch.
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Club committee member, Sam Willett, feels the damage caused by the vandals will have a major impact on the club’s finances.

Sam said: ‘I’m shocked to be honest – I don’t understand why someone would want to do this. It’s going to cost us thousands of pounds to repair the damage.’

The club will now need to replace the damaged fence, purchase a new lawn mower and ‘resurface at least half of the pitch’.

Club officials have said at least half of the pitch will need to be resurfaced.Club officials have said at least half of the pitch will need to be resurfaced.
Club officials have said at least half of the pitch will need to be resurfaced.
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Sam added: ‘We’ve already had a large number of home games postponed this season due to the weather and this is just another expense we could have done without. Any money we’ve made will probably now be gone and we will be going into our reserves.’

While matches had already been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, if games do resume then the club will face a massive battle to complete their fixtures.

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Steve said: ‘If the league do decide start football again there’s no way we can play our home games.’

Police confirmed the club’s stadium had been broken into but there were no reports of anything having been stolen.

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A police spokesman said: ‘I can confirm we received reports shortly after 9am on March 17 that a shed at the Baffins Milton Rovers FC ground had been broken into.

‘A tractor had also been driven through a fence and left abandoned on the pitch. Nothing has been reported stolen at this time.’

Steve added: ‘We want these people brought to justice. I’m sure someone will know who is responsible and I would urge them to come forward to police.’

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference 44200100168.