Vandals blight famed Valleys rugby ground

ONE of Welsh rugby’s most historic clubs has been left counting the cost of a vandalism attack on its ground.

Abertillery Park has been the home of some of the biggest names in Welsh and British Lions rugby, with the likes of Robert Norster, Rupert Moon, Dai Watkins, Keith Jarrett, Allan Lewis, Glyn Meredith, Haydn Morgan and Alun Pask among those to have donned the jersey.

But horrified club officials say part of the grandstand was subjected to an arson attack and the pitch strewn with broken glass.

Abertillery BG team manager Aled Griffiths, who discovered the vandalism, said he has not seen anything on this scale, with cables and drainage pipes also broken.

Club members say drug bags were uncovered among the huge amount of rubbish left.

Mr Griffiths said: “What has happened over the last couple of years is that we have an area underneath our stand which has become a hotspot for youths to go and have a drink on Friday and Saturday nights.

“It’s been a recurring theme. But last weekend I went on my daily walk down to the Park just to check up on things.

“As I made my way down I could see bottles smashed all over the place, including the field.

“You could clearly see the remains of fires that’s damaged drainage pipes, cables have been snapped and fire has got up into the stand’s cladding and affected that.

“We are trying to get the message out to our community we’re making a stand on this and not taking it any more. We’ve put a rough estimate on the work costing £2,000 and that includes an industrial clean-out of the fire damage, the graffiti, replacing the damaged cabling, etc.”

Abertillery BG plan to install CCTV cameras. With the help of one of their players plus some businessmen in the club, they have equipment ready to be put up.