Vandals target cricket nets — again
Vandals have targeted the Rotorua cricket nets for the second night in a row, leaving the cricket community in “utter disbelief”.
The artificial turf at the Boord Park training facility was ripped up again overnight Thursday but this time the assailants took the turf with them.
This follows a similar incident overnight Wednesday where the turf was damaged.
It’s the third incident at the Devon St nets in three weeks after vandals caused significant damage on July 20.
Rotorua Cricket Association chairman Paul Wylie told the Rotorua Daily Post the cricket community was in “utter disbelief”.
“Why would anyone do this to a facility that we built for the whole community to use, not just regular cricketers, but people and families who just want to have a bit of fun?
“The people who end up suffering the most from this vandalism are kids who just want to play sport.”
After Thursday’s incident, Wylie said disappointment had turned to anger.
“Three weeks ago when this previously happened, I was disappointed and sad. Now I’m furious.
“We haven’t even had a chance to fix the results of the previous vandalism, and now we’ve got more. Our season starts soon, and junior and senior teams are going to want to start training soon — and now, with this damage, we don’t know whether we will be able to get it fixed in time.
“Part of our long-term plan is to build new community net facilities in other parts of the city. But to keep spending money to repair our existing facility just sets us back further.”
And it the damage was not just a problem facing cricket, he said.
“Our friends at Netball Rotorua and Touch Rotorua for example have suffered the effects of increasing vandalism too. Something needs to be done, otherwise there’ll eventually be no sporting opportunities for young people because the cost of repairing damage caused by vandals will make it unaffordable to play.
“Rotorua Cricket is a non-profit entity and we simply cannot afford to keep repairing the damage caused by senseless vandalism,” Wylie said.
“These nets are our key practice facility and if they’re not able to be used for this purpose due to constant damage caused by vandals, children and adults will simply stop playing, or worse yet, not even look at cricket as a sporting option.
“We are determined to fix this, but it’s likely that we’ll be asking for help from the council and the rest of the community to do so.”
After the vandalism last month, Wylie estimated the repair cost would “be in the thousands”.
Rotorua Lakes Council sport, recreation and environment manager Rob Pitkethley said it was notified of the damage to one of the artificial run-ups on Thursday morning.
“[It] is very disappointing following the recent damage caused to this facility.”
Council staff would meet with a cricket representative next week and look at repair and protection options.
The incident has been reported to the police but there was no update yet.
Touch Rotorua committee member Steve Hudson said sports fields across the city were being ripped up by people on dirtbikes, particularly in Westbrook.
But the activity was still happening when children were present for sports, and he was scared for their safety.
“All you can do is let the police know.” He said it happened every week, but some in the community would say it happened daily.
“I’m scared someone is going to get really hurt.”