Coach slams vandals after work on kids area trashed

A SPORTS coach has criticised youngsters who vandalised an area for children with additional support needs to play football in.

PC Richard Heggie helps coach children around Dundee, but wanted to help kids in his area of Monifieth.

Through Monifieth Athletic Soccer School, he has been coaching children with additional support needs.

There are no enclosed areas in Monifieth for the kids the play in, so PC Heggie set up a fence at the town’s pitches.

But just hours after constructing the pitch, PC Heggie, who is a qualified Scottish Football Association coach, was met with a scene of devastation with a series of posts for the fence lying scattered around the pitch.

After reviewing CCTV in the area, it is thought that a group of children had ripped the posts out of the ground and threw them around the area.

Empty energy juice bottles and biscuit packs were also lying scattered around the area where it happened.

PC Heggie said: “We had been looking to start a programme with the AngusAlive culture, sport and leisure trust for a group of kids with additional support needs.

“So basically I am doing a course every week for these kids during the summer holidays — whether they are autistic, suffering from Asperger’s, cerebral palsy or other conditions.

“They can sometimes have issues getting in football teams and being coached, so that’s where we wanted to help. It’s a chance for the kids to play football in a safe, enjoyable way.

“I work with Active Schools Dundee for children with additional support needs as well and because I live in Monifieth I wanted to bring it there too. It’s for primary school children in Panmure and the surrounding area.

“Monifieth doesn’t have an enclosed space so I created a barrier on Tuesday last week at 1pm and by 6pm it had been knocked down by some kids.

“They’ve basically knocked them down and thrown them around. It’s disheartening, but we put them back and thankfully since then there hasn’t been any further problems. I think it may be because of a post on Facebook that said the pitch was for children with additional support needs.”

The sessions cost £2.60 and will run from 9.30am-10.30am on July 21 and 26 and also on August 2 and 9 at the Riverview pitches.