Yobs wreck Massey sports pitches in 20-minute wrecking spree

[dutchman]

Vandals on a motorbike decimate cricket square at Massey Ferguson Sports Club



A groundsman who has spent eight years tending award-winning pitches in Coventry has blasted the hooligans who wrecked them in 20 minutes.

Bob Stretton, 59, was hired to resurrect the pitches at Massey Ferguson Sports Club in Bannerbrook Park in 2006.

Since then he has transformed the surfaces and up until now he was looking forward to a busy summer of sport at the ground.

His dreams have turned into a nightmare after vandals on a motorbike decimated his cricket square, making half of the wickets unusable for the new season.

The rest will need a huge amount of attention to make them playable for the new season, which is just a few weeks away.

Bob, who has tended to sports surfaces across Coventry and Warwickshire, said: “I’ve been here since 2006.

“In that time I’ve been attacked with a knife, chased by a dog, physically assaulted and verbally assaulted, and this is the icing on the cake.”



The gang of four youths got on to the pitches using a public footpath at around 4pm on Saturday.

People living close to the club, and staff at nearby Rough Close Scout Campsite alerted Bob and the police, but so far no arrests have been made.

The majority of the damage is centred on the cricket square, home of Warwickshire League side Massey Ferguson.

Three of the wickets are playable but the remaining nine all need major work.

Some may recover in time to be playable for part of the new season. Others will need the best part of a year to recover.

Bob a former pitch advisor for the ECB, estimated the financial cost of the damage could be somewhere in the region of £20,000.

“It’s more work for me,” he said. “I’ve got to wave my magic wand and hope that some of the surfaces will be level and playable.

“These pitches have had eight years of tender loving care and in 20 minutes of mindless vandalism these hooligans have wrecked them.”

As well as damaging the pitches the yobs also wrecked a fence at the front of the complex.

Bob believes the four used a Kawasaki bike and left the site in the direction of Tile Hill.

Police have launched an investigation into the vandalism. Anyone with information should call 101.