"An idiot in a ute" has damaged a playing field and put in jeopardy the start of the season for a Whangarei football club.
Central Brown AFC, which plays on a ratepayer-owned pitch at Blue Goose, is angry that "an idiot in a ute" tore up the turf on the club's only pitch at 3.23pm on Wednesday, club vice-president Bryn Hughes said.
Fortunately the actions of the vandal and his passenger were caught on CCTV and the footage, including the ute's rego plate, is being passed on to police. But in the meantime the vandalism has put in doubt the club's start to the season tomorrow.
The damage was mainly in the centre of the pitch and although Whangarei District Council contractors were working to get it sorted as soon as possible, Mr Hughes was worried that tomorrow's games would have to be postponed.
"Two days before the start of the season is really disappointing. It makes your blood boil, it really does," Mr Hughes said.
"The question is why would you do that? What's the point?"
He said two teams were supposed to use the pitch on Saturday but the damage had put that in doubt and he worried what the club's young players would think when they turned up for training last night.
"It's very deliberate and has targeted the playing field as the other space on the park didn't get touched," Mr Hughes said.
To add insult to injury, the driver also dumped a piece of whiteware from the back of the ute down the club's driveway.
Mr Hughes said it was fortunate the club put in CCTV cameras just last week because they captured clear images of the vandalism in action.
"They are already paying their way, but we shouldn't have to have cameras."
He said the club had at least four teams, with many of them made up of young players and it was frustrating that the club was trying to do something positive for youth and this sort of vandalism happened.
"The average age of our premier and first division teams is just over 21 and those youngsters will turn up to training tonight (Thursday) and wonder what the heck has happened," Mr Hughes said.
"As one club member said 'if this guy was so desperate to get on the pitch for Central Brown all he had to do was turn up to training on Tuesday or Thursday'."
The club hoped to hear from the council today if the pitch could be repaired in time for tomorrow's season kick-off.
Vandalism at council-owned parks is a regular problem for Whangarei District Council.
Last August vandals smashed through a fence, knocked bollards out of the ground and left skid marks across Otangarei's Fishbone Park before igniting and destroying a stolen car.
That damage followed similar vandalism on nearby Tikipunga Sports Ground in June last year.