Stocksbridge Park Steels face bill worth thousands after vandalism

A football club is facing a repair bill of thousands of pounds after vandals damaged their training pitches.

Eighth-tier side Stocksbridge Park Steels said £6,000 of damage had been caused at the Bracken Moor Lane site.

Vandals broke several goals and caused damage to pitches which were being re-laid ahead of next season, a club spokesperson said.

South Yorkshire Police said the force would contact the club about the damage.

The club spokesperson said they did not want to be named after previously being abused after speaking out about vandalism.

They said break-ins at the ground and adjacent training pitches were a regular occurrence, with volunteers routinely verbally abused when trying to move people off the land.

"Unfortunately it seems to be the way these days," they added.

"If they feel like breaking something, they do. We even had visitors last year on Christmas Day."

The spokesperson added: "People just think it's a playground. They go and sit in the stands smoking their spliffs, eating their Chinese meals and leaving rice everywhere."

Stocksbridge, who play in the Northern Premier League Division One East, are perhaps best known for helping launch the career of Premier League and FA Cup winner Jamie Vardy.

But the games riches have not filtered down to Steels, who are located near Vardy's hometown of Sheffield.

"Football clubs aren't in a position now where they are rolling in money," the spokesperson said.

"Times are going to be difficult for next season. We have seen several clubs go bust. There are going to be a lot of them living like us, hand to mouth."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].