After a night of fun and celebration on Friday, May 24th, members of Ross Juniors were devastated to return to the club grounds to find it had been vandalised.

The damage was done across two nights, Monday, May 27th and Tuesday, May 28th.

The football dugouts, which seated those watching the games, appear to have been kicked in, the security fencing has been damaged, and two picnic benches have been smashed. The wooden slats from the benches were found strewn across the floor.

Judging from the damage to the changing room shutters and the underside of the Sports Centre, Club Chairman, Jim Loftus, told the Ross Gazette he believes an attempted break in also took place.

He added that the cost of repairs will be very high, and the vandalism is a sad end to their 15th anniversary celebrations. The club, run solely by volunteers, will have to divert funding that would otherwise be used to improve the club's facilities.In light of this incident, Jim told the Ross Gazette that the club will work on improving their security to prevent this from happening again, and welcomes help and advice from local security firms. A club spokesperson said: "This is just mindless idiots. We work hard to make the grounds and facilities nice, not to pay for the damage you have caused. We would encourage those involved to come forward or anyone who may have seen anything who can supply us with more info."

The crime reference number is 196SL290519.See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.