A junior football club says it has suffered 'a huge blow' after vandals destroyed thousands of pounds worth of equipment.
Volunteers at FC Unsworth, in Bury, arrived at the club's ground on Monday morning to find two sets of goalposts had been snapped in half.
There are now fears it could spell the end for a number of teams unless the club can find the money to replace the damaged equipment, which it estimates will cost £5,000.
Paul Walsh, club secretary at FC Unsworth, said: "It is disgusting. They have completely destroyed the nets beyond repair.
"They were plastic so they have snapped them and dragged them out of the chains and padlock.
"These mindless idiots have no respect for society. Because of their actions 60 players can no longer play football.
"It just feels so unjust."
Mr Walsh says there have been problems with large groups of youths gathering at the club's ground, which it shares with Unsworth Cricket Club, in recent weeks.
However, he described the weekend's acts of vandalism as 'the final straw'.
"We have had mass gatherings of up to 100 youths," Mr Walsh explained.
"They have been getting drunk and leaving bottles and laughing gas canisters all over the floor. It is ridiculous.
"Our volunteers have been going to collect the rubbish only for it to return the next day.
"We are a volunteer-run organisation. We have all put our own money into this.
"The last few months have been hard enough for sports clubs, we are doing our best to just stay afloat at this time.
"As soon as lockdown happened we told our parents to stop paying their subs, so we have no money coming in."
Greater Manchester Police said they had received reports of criminal damage at the club, but had not made any arrests.
The junior football club was founded three years ago by Mr Walsh and two others, David Heaney and Matthew Barton.
It currently has more than 100 junior players across a number of teams and age groups.
The club has launched a fundraising appeal to replace the damaged equipment.
You can donate to the campaign here.
Anyone with information regarding the incident can call GMP on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
