Junior football club fights back against yobs

A junior football club which had its kitchen damaged by vandals during a break-in is now able to repair the damage thanks to donations from the community.
South Kirkby Reds Football Club players and coaches with PC Tony Whaley in the damaged container.South Kirkby Reds Football Club players and coaches with PC Tony Whaley in the damaged container.
South Kirkby Reds Football Club players and coaches with PC Tony Whaley in the damaged container.

Yobs filmed themselves smashing up a kitchen and container belonging to South Kirkby Reds FC last month.

The vandals caused around £4,000 worth of damage as they destroyed cupboards, chairs and a table in the kitchen and ripped a radiator off the wall.

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Now, thanks to a £200 donation from shoppers at the Asda supermarket in Moorthorpe, the club now has enough money to help restore the facilities.

Tony Lawton, club secretary, said: “We have now raised £3,200 which is enough to fully restore the facilities.

“The response we’ve had has been overwhelming and it sounds daft but we’re actually doing better as a club at the minute than we were before the break-in.”

A charity fun day at Common Road Junior and Infant School in August raised £1,500 towards restoring the facilities.

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There was a car boot sale, bouncy castle and a raffle as well as the chance to meet Barnsley FC players at the event in August.

Mr Lawton said: “The vandalism was absolutely devastating. None of us can understand why they did it. It was just mindless.

“The kids were shattered by it but we’re not going to let the vandals win and we are overwhelmed with the response from the community.

“If we had not raised the money we had lost then we could’ve ended up with no football club and nobody wants that.

“When we said the vandals wouldn’t win we meant it.”

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The football club has two under-sevens teams, an under-nines team, an under-tens team and an under-11s side.

Mr Lawton said: “We had a really successful under-13s girls team and as part of the building that was damaged we were hoping to put them some changing rooms in.

“Now though thanks to the response we’ve had we’re going to be starting a new under-9s team from next September.”

Mr Lawton said parents of children who play for the club have agreed to carry out the restoration free of charge.

They hope the work will be completed within weeks.

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