WHAT AN OWN GOAL
Kids’team angry at posts being removed from pitch they use and maintain
A kids’ football team are “devastated” after South Lanarkshire Council removed goalposts from the pitch they use for training.
Glencairn 2006s use the pitches in Burnhill twice a week and for free football training camps during holidays.
The team also maintain the pitches and conduct regular litter-picks to ensure the area is safe and tidy for the community.
But last week, council staff removed the goal posts, leaving the kids with nowhere to play.
Team coach Tony McDonald said the move would have a “negative impact”.
A kids’ football team has blasted South Lanarkshire Council for removing goalposts which play an essential part in the lives of youngsters in Rutherglen.
Glencairn 2006s use the pitches in Burnhill for training twice a week and the team also holds regular camps there during school holidays.
But coaches, parents and children have been left “devastated” at the council’s decision to remove the goalposts and not replace them.
Coach Tony McDonald has said the council doesn’t realise how “monumental” the decision is and the impact the removal will have on hundreds of kids in the area.
He told the Reformer: “A set of the goals were dug out on Monday by the council and we were told by the guys doing the work that they aren’t to be replaced, they’ve to be filled with concrete.
“We run training here and football camps during the school holidays. They are free of charge because many parents struggle financially. They can’t afford to send their kids to Toryglen and Uddingston for football camps.
“In the summer camp we had about 60 or 70 kids. It’s such a popular club for the local youngsters.
“This keeps the kids healthy and gives them a hobby. The council spend no money here, there’s no facilities for the kids and now they are removing the only facility they have. “This is monumental.
“How can we have football training and football camps with no goals?
“They just don’t realise the negative impact this will have on kids and hundreds of families across the area.”
The team maintains the pitches, buy nets and paint the goalposts regularly to make it a clean, safe area the kids can be proud of.
Coach Alex Black says he feels “let down” by the council. He explained: “Over the past three or four years our wee Glencairn 2006 team has adopted an unused and unkept former football pitch in Burnhill.
“With no help or funding from the council we tidied up the area, painted the posts, put nets up and lined the pitch.
“We carried out this work ourselves, borrowing equipment and paying for anything we could not borrow.
“In this time our team and several others have trained and played matches on this pitch, local kids use it daily, we have even hosted sports days and events for the local community, again with no financial support.
“Our ethos is simply to provide a place for local kids to keep them off the streets and away from the pitfalls of life we have seen so many take growing up in this area.
“Parents here struggle and the cost of our training and camps are kept at a minimum or mostly free.”
Coaching staff and the kids are now urging the local authority to reverse its decision and rather than concrete over where the goalposts were, put up a new set to replace them.
Tony added: “We are urging the council not to take this away from the kids.
“It’s just cruel. We will do whatever it takes to make sure these kids still have football.”
Alistair McKinnon, head of facilities, waste and grounds services at the council, said: “Unfortunately, as a result of vandalism, the existing goalposts have had to be removed for safety reasons.
“We are looking at options to enable the continued community use of the pitch including replacement of the damaged goals.”