Mannum footy oval desperate for upgrade hit by copper theft at the last hurdle

A haul that would take “10 people to lift” has vanished, leaving the town’s footy club in the dark and major makeover in limbo.

Thieves after copper cabling have left a regional community furious and disappointed after a shipping container full of lighting equipment was broken into.

The Mannum Football Club and Mid Murray Council have been working for two years to replace degraded lights at the town’s oval, but just weeks before the project was expected to be finished light fittings and copper cables were stolen.

SA Police said the container was broken into between 6pm on Monday and 6.30am on Tuesday.

Mannum Football Club president Clint Warhurst said the theft “fortunately” hadn’t delayed the completion date of the project because there were “spare light fittings and extra cable” available, but that had not made the situation any less “disappointing”.

The Mid Murray Council has been trying to replace the oval’s lights since 2023, but due to financial difficulties it was not viable until SA-based energy infrastructure company Epic Energy stepped in to provide majority funding in October last year.

A shipping container full of lights, copper cables and equipment was struck by thieves at the Mannum Football Oval. Picture: Supplied

A shipping container full of lights, copper cables and equipment was struck by thieves at the Mannum Football Oval. Picture: Supplied

After months of preparation work, and a delivery of light poles last week, the shipping container filled with the lights and equipment was delivered on Monday, but due to weather restrictions the job had to be put off for a day.

Only a day later almost everything had been stolen.

“It’s a blow to our whole community,” mayor Simone Bailey said.

“The lights are a much needed improvement for local sport and community use.

“So much effort has gone into this project to get it to the finishing line and for this to happen at the last step is really hard.”

Football club president Mr Warhurst said the copper cabling that was stolen was “about 500kg per cable reel”, and “you’d need 10 people to lift it”.

Locals have called for security cameras to be installed at the Mannum oval since the theft.

“Sad to think we need cameras set up to stop some low lives need for a few dollars of copper,” one Facebook commenter said.

Mayor Bailey urged anyone who “saw or heard anything at all” to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.