Bosses at Dundee Rugby Club have slammed “mindless vandalism” which left their pitches unplayable ahead of a weekend of scheduled games.
The rugby pitches off Alloway Place were left destroyed on Wednesday morning when vandals drove a car across the fields before setting fire to it and dumping it on the old tennis courts.
Emergency services were called to the scene around 7.30am and police confirmed they are treating the fire as deliberate.
Club convener Dougie Clark was among those who went to the pitches on Wednesday afternoon to inspect the extent of the damage.
The initial inspection confirmed no matches or training sessions can currently take place, leaving this weekend’s games – and a special ‘lunch club’ with a drinks reception and three-course meal – in jeopardy.
The majority of Dundee Rugby Club’s club 20 teams use the Alloway Place pitches for games and training and club president, Derek Black, spoke of his frustration over the disruption the vandalism will cause.
He said: “It’s very difficult to say what the extent of the damage is at this stage because we need to do an assessment but it does look pretty bad.
“We have the Dundee University medical students using the pitch on Saturday and there is a lunch event for 50 this Sunday for the women’s senior team.
“I can’t say for definite whether we can get them on but I would loathe to cancel the lunch.
“I’m hoping it can go on regardless [without the match] but we will have to wait and see.”
‘Every penny is a prisoner’ when paying for repairs
The pitches have been vandalised before and Dundee Rugby Club has reported seeing “petrol dirt bikes driving around the pitches”, however the damage inflicted on Wednesday is the worst members have seen.
Now the club president is hoping the pitches can be repaired as soon as possible and the club have launched a fundraising campaign to help pay for the repairs.
Derek added: “The vandalism is sporadic.
“We can go months and months without anything but it’s the mindlessness of it that frustrates us.
“We are doing our best to give kids an outlet and the amount of time people give to grow the game and get kids into sport – this hampers all our efforts.
“Times are hard at the moment and every penny is a prisoner but we will look to repair it as quickly as we can.”
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