A football club official has hit out at yobs who vandalised a kids’ facility in Castle Douglas.
Threave Rovers Youth Development chairman Mark Geddes on Monday discovered parts of the fence at Birkland Road had been kicked in and damaged.
He said: “It’s very frustrating. I think it’s just kids who have done it. It’s not the pitch or any of the units that have been damaged it’s just the fence.
“It’s not the most secure, there’s part of it they could get in further up as it’s mainly to keep dog walkers off because you don’t want them on a football pitch.
“It cost £16,000 to put the fence up — I wouldn’t think it’ll cost anywhere near that to fix but that’s not the point.
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“It’s annoying because I don’t think they realise the work that went in to give kids somewhere to play football in Castle Douglas.”
The club was handed a 25-year lease of the ground by the council and has worked to improve the pitch which regularly attracted complaints from players due to poor drainage.
They also added changing rooms, lock-ups and parking ahead of the Scottish Football Partnership’s Stuart McCaffrey opening it last May.
But while Threave run the site, it is for use by the whole community.
Mr Geddes added: “We have around 130 kids, from five-year-olds to 16-year-olds, who use it.
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“It’s also used by the community and the council lease it back from us for use by Active Schools. We’ve had it for around 18 months and have done lots of work to improve it. The irony is with the good weather, the pitch is looking good and we’ve just had it verti-drained.”
The damage was discovered on Monday afternoon and is believed to have been caused at some point over the weekend.
