Max Westwood
Another alleged targeted vandalism attack has hit Whittlesea Ranges Soccer Club.
As reported by Star Weekly, the club has had numerous issues with vandalism at Harvest Home Recreation Reserve.
The latest attack on June 24 marks the second attack in less than three weeks and the fourth overall on the club in recent times.
Executive board member Sergio Costanzo said the club has had to find alternative places to train due to the repeated attacks.
“The main stadium has also been done again, they actually got into pits up there as well.” he said.
“So the last three to four days we’ve been out trying to train wherever we can get, LaTrobe University, RMIT just shopping around, trying to get a ground to train on.”
Mr Costanzo said the vandalism was affecting the club’s 450 participants.
“We’re a big club,” he said. We’ve got seniors, senior men, senior women right down to under-sevens. We’ve got both a boys and girls teams.
“It’s a logistical nightmare.”
The latest attack comes just as the last lot of vandalism was fixed,
Mr Costanzo said the worst thing is the hundreds of thousands of dollars will need to be spent on fixing this lot of damage.
He wants those who use the facility to make sure they are locking it and wants to know what Whittlesea council is doing to fix the ongoing probolem long term.
A council spokesperson said that the council was working with electrical contractors to fix the damages caused as quickly as possible.
“Council is extremely disappointed that vandals have again targeted the Harvest Home Recreation Reserve in Epping,” they said.
“These repeated acts of vandalism are impacting on our community’s ability to enjoy their sport, which is unacceptable.
“We are working with our electrical contractors to repair the damage as quickly as possible and looking at what other measures we can put in place to deter future incidents.
“These vandalism attacks are prevalent right across Melbourne and we are in discussion with other councils and Victoria Police.”
Anyone with information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
