Junior football club smashed up by vandals

Volunteer Jemma Marriott and chairman Steve Chaplin arrived on site to see the damage on Thursday

Bosses of a children’s football club in Nottingham say they have been astounded by the response of the community after it was targeted by "mindless" vandals.

Pelican Colts FC’s Dave Eastwood Sports Ground in Lenton Lane will be out of action for the foreseeable future after changing rooms, goalposts, toilets and other facilities were damaged

The vandalism happened between 6-11 September while travellers were at the site.

The club had been advised by police to stay away from the site until the caravans left.

Nottinghamshire Police said it received a report of criminal damage at the football ground last week, but the club said it has not reported the most recent act of vandalism to the force.

Toilets were smashed off the wall during the attack

Chairman Steve ‘Coco’ Chaplin said it was the worst case of vandalism he had seen at the club in decades.

"I’m absolutely gutted,” he said. “God knows what the kids are going to feel like.

"It’s a kids football ground, not adults – this is a youth football club. I’m struggling to take it all in.

"It’s beyond me. Why? For what reason? We’ll carry on, there’s no doubt about that, we’ve got a lot of good friends and everyone will muck in and do their bit.

"We could do with help from the council whose land it is but we’ve had absolutely nothing from them. Not a phone call, they don’t do anything."

Volunteers arrived at the site on Thursday morning to find paint had been splattered across the changing rooms and the goalposts had been brought down.

The toilets had also been smashed with porcelain strewn across the floor and a fence had been broken where access had been gained.

Football goals were pushed over and broken

Following the attack, a fundraising campaign has raised more than £5,000 and local tradesman have offered their services to repair the damage.

General manager Tony Hatton said: "The football community has really got behind us in the past 24 hours. The response has been fantastic.

"The amount of people who have offered help – it’s just skyrocketed. It’s amazing how people have been able to dig deep and offer the club a lifeline."

Mr Hatton said he “didn’t see the point” in reporting the recent vandalism to the police again as he believed there was “very little they could have done”.

A police statement said: "We received a report of criminal damage at Dave Eastwood Sports Ground, in Lenton Lane, Nottingham, on Friday 6 September.

"Officers attended and found fencing had been damaged. It is believed the incident was related to an unauthorised encampment."

Nottingham City Council, which owns the site, said in a statement: "We lease the ground to Pelican FC and as per the lease agreement, they have sole responsibility for looking after the site – including repairs, maintenance and in this case the removal of travellers."