Thieves hit club twice
Cash, grog taken then Knights ‘cleaned out’
CALLOUS thieves have stolen $5000 in cash and goods from a small rugby union club, devastating its tightknit sporting community.
Griffith Uni Knights president David Cummings said two major break-ins had occurred at the Ashmore clubhouse in the past few weeks, with the first in broad daylight.
“The first one was during the day,” Mr Cummings said.
“The doors (were) prised open, all our cash was taken, alcohol and Powerades.
“It was a bit strange it happened during the day. I came there that night for training and noticed it.”
Thieves returned at night on Sunday, March 18, this time taking “everything else they could”.
Wary from the first burglary, Mr Cummings had relocated the cash takings from the previous evening’s home game out of the till to a safe place off the grounds.
“They’ve grinded the locks off, got in again and went for the cash, it wasn’t there, so they took everything else they could,” he said. “The PA system, the TV, the two-way radio that we use for the games, took all the alcohol – cleaned us out.”
Mr Cummings said thieves struck straight after a home game and knew to block the vision from the club’s CCTV cameras.
On top of trying to recoup the losses, Mr Cummings said he had since spent extra money boosting security at the clubhouse.
“I’ve redone all the locks and put deadbolts in, changed the security cameras – a few different things to try to make it better,” Cummings said.
He said the burglaries had set back years of hard work by volunteers.
“You feel really heartbroken,” Cummings said.
“So many people have put in all this time as volunteer work and for this to happen ... we’re only a little community club. We haven’t got much.”