'Deliberate fires' damage football club's pitch

An amateur football club says it is "extremely disappointed" after two separate fires damaged one of its pitches in less than a week.

Firefighters attended Withernsea AFC's playing fields on Hull Road on Friday at 17:30 BST and again on Sunday shortly after 20:30 following reports of small fires, a Humberside Fire and Rescue spokesperson said.

The fires had been deliberately ignited and were quickly put out on both occasions, the fire service added.

Andrew Neal, the club's vice chairman and welfare officer, said: "It's just disheartening when people are vandalising our club."

Neal said the committee received a call on Friday from a resident who reported a fire outside the clubhouse.

The committee then received another call on Sunday evening from a dog walker who said a group of children or teenagers had created a fire.

In the past two years, £10,000 has been spent on draining, reseeding and fertilising the football field, Neal said.

"Now we're going to have to spend some more money repairing the damage where the fires have been taking place," he said.

Withernsea AFC has 15 junior teams, supporting more than 200 children, a senior team and a walking football team.

He said the damaged pitch is where the under 7s and under 8s play, meaning their games will be relocated to the other side of the playing field.

"We have to do some work on that now to get it right for next season," Neal said.

"I would think the kids are very disappointed."

Neal said the cost to fix the damage was "irrelevant".

"I think it's more the fact it's taken hours of the committee's time to go and fix. You can't really put a price on it," he said.

"We should be spending on the kids at football, making the facilities better for the kids to have somewhere safe and nice to play."

The club said the "unnecessary demand being placed on our emergency services" was "more concerning".

"Every call-out to these incidents takes valuable time and resources away from other emergencies where they may be needed most," it said in a social media post.

Neal said the committee was looking at getting CCTV to help prevent more incidents.

Both fires have been reported to Humberside Police. The force said inquiries to establish the full circumstances of the reports were ongoing.

Local policing team Sgt Mick McLaughlin said: "Families and children should be able to enjoy their local parks and green spaces without disruption.

"It is totally unacceptable for these areas to be damaged by individuals intent on causing harm."

The force urged anyone with information to get in touch.

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