‘Mindless vandalism’ causes £1,000 worth of damage to Sandhurst Town Football Club

Damage to the stand at Sandhurst Town. Photo: @sandhursttownfc
Damage to the stand at Sandhurst Town. Photo: @sandhursttownfc

Enter your email address to receive regular Berkshire football updates in your inbox

The high of Wednesday nights Allied Counties Youth League Premier Division win against Maidenhead United was put in to stark contrast for Sandhurst Town over the weekend after vandals caused over a £1,000 worth of damage to the clubs Bottom Meadow ground.

Picture posted on twitter show seats ripped from the clubs stand, rubbish left on the ground and advertising hoardings damaged around the pitch perimeter.

We spoke to Fizzers chairman Tony Dean who expanded on the damage at the ground which he said he expected to run in to four figures.

Mr Dean said: “We think it happened on Friday evening, we had people on site at 3pm when everything was okay but the damage was done by the time I visited the ground at midday on Saturday.”

Amongst the damage, the Sandhurst chairman said there had been some flooding after external pipework was damaged. He said: “The external tap has been kicked off and there is damage to the external pipework which caused some minor flooding which isn’t too bad, the problem is we’re on a metre and the water must have been on for at least 10 hours.

Damage to external piping at Sandhurst Town. Photo: @sandhursttownfc
Damage to external piping at Sandhurst Town. Photo: @sandhursttownfc

“There has also been a dozen seats ripped out and damaged in the stand on the far side of the pitch as well as dustbins kicked over and several advertising boards pulled down.

‘It’s mindless vandalism’

“It’s mindless vandalism.” Mr Dean said who added that whoever it was had tried to force entry to the club house.

“Fortunately the club house doors are pretty solid.” he added.

On the costs, the Fizzers chairman said: “The seats are going to cost a good few hundred pounds to replace, we’ll obviously do that ourselves but I think we’re looking at around a £1,000 worth of damage when you take everything in to account.”

“It’s a bit of a comedown after the youth game but we’ll get on with it.”

It’s not the first time Bottom Meadow has been targeted by vandals, the same stand was set on fire a few years ago when the club were in the Combined Counties League.

If anyone is able to help Sandhurst Town with repairs, please contact FootballinBracknell via editor@footballinbracknell.co.uk and we’ll put you in contact. Anyone with information on the vandalism should call Thames Valley Police on 101. The crime reference number is 43170145901.

Football in Berkshire has a Breaking News WhatsApp Channel where we’ll send you updates on all the latest football news from the Royal County. You can join Breaking Berkshire Football News by clicking here

Subscribe to the newsletter

Enter your email address to receive regular Berkshire football updates in your inbox

Search Football in Berkshire
FIB-Badgetransparent-dud.png