Rugby club left “shocked” after broken glass found on pitch

The club are now carrying out extensive searches of the pitches before every game.

Members of a rugby club in St Neots have said that they were 'shocked' when they found large amounts of glass smashed deliberately on their pitches.

St Neots Rugby Club have said they were made aware of the glass after members of the public reported it and have since cleared up the ground.

Players use The Common, in St Neots, and the area is regularly used by more than 300 girls, boys, men and women who train on the pitches.

The club has four senior teams, the Saints, Heathens, the third team and the vets team.

There are also six junior teams, six mini teams and one ladies team and according to vice chairman of the club, Paul Warmington, the safety of all the teams was put at risk.

He said the vandalism had 'struck a chord within the community' and 'he was really shocked by it.'

Mr Warmington said he also received two phone calls, one from a woman who explained that her son had cut his foot on the glass and another woman explaining that her dog had cut its mouth on the glass.

He has thanked the public for getting in contact and describes the vandal's actions as mindlessness.

Mr Warmington said: 'Safety is our number one priority and all pitches are inspected before any games and training takes place.

'The Rugby Club is a huge asset to the community and it is really nice that the community has reacted in a certain way.

'They are generally concerned for the safety of the public and the players at the club.

'We always inspect the pitches before every game and were really shocked to find glass within the top pitch.'

'There had to be an extensive clean up over the weekend and we didn't report it to the police.'

'There is unfortunately no CCTV cameras on the pitch, so we could not catch who did this.'

'What I find really upsetting is there was glass on some areas of the pitch that was deliberately pushed into the ground.'

'As a precaution we are now carrying out extensive searches of the pitch before every game.'

For more information on St Neots Rugby club go to: www.stneotsrugbyclub.com.