The club official for Chesterton FC, Steve Honey, has said he is ‘appalled’ at the damage done to the Chesterton Football playing field over the weekend.

 

Between 5.30 pm on Friday and 9 am on Saturday, vandals drove a car or cars onto the pitch and completed doughnuts around the centre circle.

 

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Steve noticed the damage on Saturday morning as he went over to the playing field and found large tire marks across the field.

 

He said: “I am really disappointed that somebody would contemplate doing this. In my opinion, they’ve committed a deliberate act of vandalism with a total disregard for other people.”

 

“It really isn’t a fact of driving across the field once they’ve been there for at least 10 minutes skidding and sliding their vehicles around the grass.

 

“They've gone up and down the entire length of the field with the sole intention of causing the maximum amount of damage.”

 

The security gates of the football pitch were damaged in an unconnected accident involving a vehicle which meant the gates have not been able to lock.

 

Owned by the parish council, the football pitch is leased to the Chesterton football club in the winter and funded by volunteers.

 

Steve said the club had spent £3,000 on the football pitch.

 

“We’re all volunteers,” he said.

 

“We do it to try and offer sport to members of the public and this has just put a big dent in our ability to do that.”

 

Former resident, Carol Nunn, has already set up a JustGiving page to raise the money needed to repair the pitch.

 

She said: “I lived in Chesterton for 9 years and my son and family still live there so I still hold it close to my heart”.

 

Writing on the JustGiving page she said: “This facility is for everyone and anyone and not just for Chesterton. I would like to raise some funds so that we can get it up and running again.

 

“If you can help at all no matter how little I would be extremely grateful.”

 

Police are appealing for information and ask anyone with dash-cam or CCTV footage of the incident in the vicinity of Geminus Road or Green Lane, Chesterton to get in contact with them.

 

Anybody with any information, or who knows who is responsible, is urged to contact the police on 101, quoting reference number 43210536607.

 

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