Cricket pitch churned up in Inverness after 'horrible' vandalism
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AN apparent act of vandalism at an Inverness park has left city cricket players shocked and upset.
Pictures showing a churned up cricket pitch at Millburn’s Fraser Park were posted online last week.
They appear to show the aftermath of a vehicle having been deliberately driven on to the ground with the driver then ‘doughnutting’ - deliberately spinning round in a circle - to create deep grooves on the playing surface.
The park is home to the amateur Highland Cricket Club and first team captain John Paul was shocked to hear of the damage that had been done.
Unaware of anything being amiss until the Inverness Courier contacted him he said: "This sounds horrendous and very disappointing given the amount of work team members out on the ground before the end of the season in September.
"In October we had seven or eight of the boys out on the ground working probably for about 35 hours altogether to get it in shape for next year.
"We had a grant of around £125 from the North of Scotland Cricket Association to help buy loam and grass seed and so on, but the bulk of the costs for the work came from club members themselves."
Mr Paul said the club had never had a serious problem with antisocial behaviour before.
"Sometimes there are dog walkers who haven’t picked up after their pets on the ground, or we find empty bottles and rubbish around the outside of the pavilion, but that’s about it," he said. "We’re only a small club and nearly everything we do is paid for by members directly to keep things going, so for something like this to happen is particularly horrible."
Crown and City Centre Community Council chairman Pat Hayden called the incident "dreadful".
"I’m not aware of there being an anti-social behaviour problem at Fraser Park so hopefully this is just a one-off, but it must be very bad for the cricket club to have to deal with this kind of mindless act on their ground," she said.
Millburn councillor Ian Brown agreed.
"It‘s disappointing and I can’t understand why anyone would do something like that," he said.
"It’s a bit of a shock to be honest - it’s a fantastic park, an asset to the ward, and that’s absolutely not the sort of thing I’m sure anyone would want to see happening there."
And fellow ward member Jimmy Gray said: "I know a lot of work goes into keeping the ground in peak condition and this is a well-used area so it’s a real shame what has happened.
"This is not a bad area for vandalism at all really, though we have had a few issues in the nearby Walker Park recently with broken glass in the playpark and the like.
"It can be a hard one for police to deal with on their own and really I think the whole community has to play their part.
"I think everybody has to keep an eye out and report anything untoward that they see immediately."
Police said the incident hadn’t been reported to them, however Fraser Park is not the only popular outdoor space to have been the victim of vandals recently.
As the Courier reported last week more than 30 incidents of antisocial behaviour were reported at Inshes Park last month, including vandalism and allegations of intimidation.
As well as graffiti extensive damage has been caused to a park shelter roof, trees have been uprooted, bottles smashed over play equipment, used condoms have been found in the vicinity and neighbouring houses pelted with eggs.
People using the park at night say they have also been intimidated by teenagers.
The weight of incidents was revealed at a meeting of Inverness South Community Council and came ahead of £7000 of new seating being installed at the park.
Police said they would be clamping down through a combination of increased patrols in the area and liaising with local schools.
Chief Inspector Ian Graham is also due to meet Inverness South councillors and partner agencies this week to discuss possible solutions.
"This behaviour is not only disrespectful and reckless; criminal damage is being carried out and this will not be tolerated," said community beat constable Robin Brown in that case.
"We would appeal to residents to continue reporting incidents to us," he added.
