Queen Elizabeth Park’s cricket ground was vandalised over the weekend. PHOTO/CHELSEA BOYLE
CHELSEA BOYLE
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Queen Elizabeth Park’s cricket ground was shredded by vandals who conducted burnouts on the pitch.
The centre of the pitch was fenced off, but it did not deter the culprit – or culprits.
Masterton District Council Infrastructural Services committee chairman Gary Caffell said he was outraged by the damage.
“You just wonder what sort of animals do these things quite frankly.”
What thrill does anybody get out of it? It just doesn’t make sense, he added.
The council had spent well over $50,000 in the past year doing up the cricket block, he said.
“It’s now at a stage where first class games could be played there,” Mr Caffell said.
“It’s so annoying when we have such an outstanding facility. . . that makes it [the vandalism] even worse.”
He understood the difficulty police have doing their usual work without having to worry about “idiots doing that”, he said.
While they did not blame the police at all, the more visits they made during the night, the better.
Mr Caffell said people who knew anything about the damage should go to the police.
Wairarapa Cricket chairman Sam Rossiter-Stead said the damage was extremely disappointing.
“Particularly when we had commitments from both Wellington Cricket and Central Districts Cricket to play some representative fixtures here on a regular basis,” he said.
“Cricket in the Wairarapa is on a high, and with playing numbers doubling during the past four years we already have a shortage of facilities in the region.”
Seriously where are the Police ? .I realise they are under staffed ETC ,but this sort of crap must be stopped.Cameras for every car in the vicinity for starts.