Driver leaves tyre marks and damages ground of Trafalgar Cricket Club and Trafalgar Football Netball Club
Two Gippsland sporting clubs were greeted with a “very unfortunate sight” on Christmas Day after a driver damaged their ground with tyre marks.
Bass Coast News
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A wild ride on the oval of two West Gippsland sporting clubs has destroyed parts of the turf after a vandal did burnouts on the grass.
The incident took place about 11pm on Christmas Eve at the Trafalgar Cricket Club on the corner of Waterloo Rd and Reserve Rd.
The club took to their Facebook page the oval was a “very unfortunate sight” to wake up to on Christmas.
“We are searching for anyone with more information regarding this incident last night,” the club said.
“Our club, along with the Trafalgar Football Netball Club, has a group of very dedicated volunteers that maintain the ground all year round.
Trafalgar Football Netball Club president Jamie Marslen said the total damage repairs would cost between $500 to $1000.
“Someone feels they have a right to do that — I think it’s pretty deplorable,” Mr Marslen said.
“(All the work) will be done by volunteers, it’s the only way we’re going to be able to achieve it and obviously that’s out of pocket.
“We’ve got to find some manpower to do the repairs — we’ve already started to do some but we’ve got to do some repairs with volunteer work.”
Mr Marslen said the club hoped the ground would be repaired before the 2025 season started.
“Hopefully it’s sorted and we’ll have it reseeded and should have it germinated with grass cover by April,” he said.
“But if it hasn’t, we do a match report — so the league has got stringent conditions that the ground has to meet.
“So if it doesn’t meet that, essentially we would have to do some major repairs.”
Mr Marslen believed young offenders may have been involved.
Trafalgar Cricket Club secretary Liam Durkin said the break-ins at the premises were a “yearly occurrence”.
“It’s disappointing and frustrating,” Mr Durkin said.
“And on Christmas Day of all days.”
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He said thieves had also gone through people’s bags and wallets during games in the past.
“It’s a recurring kind of thing happening at the club,” Mr Durkin said.
He added the break-ins had put strain on the hardworking volunteers who came in on their time off and did a lot for the club.
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