A Leeds cricket club fears its pitch could be out of action for months after joyriders left a trail of destruction.
Groundsman Tommy Powell was devastated to discover that deep tyre tracks had been left on the pitch at Green Lane Cricket Club, in Rawdon.
He fears it will cost the club, which has been targeted by vandals in the past, hundreds of pounds to fix and could take months to restore the pitch.
The club installed posts and signs to warn people to stay off the pitch but Mr Powell said those pleas were being ignored.
He said: “There’s nothing I can do about it.
“It’s just sickening and is an eyesore.
“We’re never going to keep them off the cricket field and it’s become a playground for dogs and dog walkers.”
Joyriders vandalised the pitch twice in the space of just six weeks three years ago.
The pitch had to be relaid and re-planted because the cricket season was still ongoing.
It cost the club thousands of pounds to repair.
The YEP reported that the club also came under attack from dog walkers after they transformed the pitch into an unplayable sea of mud.
Mr Powell said that Leeds City Council promised to add curbs to Nunroyd Drive to prevent drivers from entering the grounds.
But he said that the project still hasn’t been completed.
He added: “We’re just back to the same old story.
“We have three months to go until the cricket season starts and this is something that we just don’t need.
“I bet the car responsible wasn’t far off getting stuck in the ground.
“You leave foot marks just walking across it and it is just made worse by all the dog walkers.”
He is calling on residents living close to the park to report any damage to the club in a bid to catch the culprits.
Mr Powell, who said that the wet weather has compounded the damage caused by the attack, added: “It will take 10 bags or more of top dressing but we can’t seed it until March.
“It’s going to cost hundreds of pounds just for the bags of soil to fill them.”
Comments