Eye Community Centre anger after group of children damage pitch

A trustee of Eye Community Centre said she was disgusted by a group of children who have wrecked one of the ground’s football pitches.

Kim Crispin and her husband, Kevin, who is chairman of the centre, put up an image of the dug-up turf on social media after six boys vandalised the pitch on Saturday.

Mrs Crispin said: “My husband and son were sorting out the centre to lock up in the evening when they saw one of the boys peering through the window at them before running off.

“When we looked at the CCTV cameras, we saw one of them on the pitch with his scooter, using it like an axe, hitting the ground, and then more came over and started to kick up the turf.”

Boys had been seen earlier in the day taking up turf and Mrs Crispin said it may also explain why there had been damage to the grass over the last two weeks.

She said: “This damage is disgraceful and made us feel sick. Enough is enough and we cannot take any more. We are just volunteers and put a lot of time into keeping everything going.

“We try our hardest to keep the pitches nice and we want children to use this area, but this group are ruining it for everybody. It is just mindless.”

There is also a skatepark on the site, owned by Eye Town Council, which was reopened on Saturday after being closed temporarily due to anti-social behaviour, including fires being lit and motorbikes being ridden on the park.

The pitch that sustained the damage is used for training by Eye Saints Football Club, for teams ranging from under-10s up to men’s and women’s squads.

Mrs Crispin said they have had to leave it in its damaged state until the police, who were now dealing with the incident, could inspect it and check the CCTV footage.

Mrs Crispin said youngsters could not claim ‘boredom’ and a lack of things to do as an excuse for acts of vandalism.

She said: “There are lots of things to do in Eye – you have got our football teams, there is karate and there are other clubs, so I’m not having that.”

Mrs Crispin added the decision to put the picture of the pitch on social media had received a positive response from the community. She also hoped it would help stop it from happening again.