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Intruders break into Plymouth’s stadium and take tractor on joyride ruining pitch work

Intruders managed to break into Plymouth’s Home Park stadium and take a tractor on a joyride – ruining pitch work in the process.

Argyle have slammed those responsible for the ‘mindless destruction’ done to their playing surface after yobs stole the club’s vehicle.

A statement on the League One club’s website has lashed out at the culprits for breaking through perimeter fencing and gained access to the tractor from the storage garage of the grounds team.

The club has today reported criminal damage at Home Park following a break-in at the stadium on the night of Saturday, 4 June.

Individuals broke through perimeter fencing before entering the grounds team’s storage garage to gain access to a tractor.

Having started the ignition with tools, the individuals proceeded to drive the tractor across the Home Park pitch, which is at an early and crucial stage of renovation ahead of the 22/23 season, leaving significant damage.

Inscapes, the company which supports the Argyle ground staff with their annual pitch renovations across the stadium, first-team and Academy pitches, will make an additional trip to Home Park as soon as possible to re-germinate the playing surface – though there is no guarantee that the damage from the incident can be repaired instantly.

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This work comes at additional cost to the club, and places our grounds team under further pressure, with an already tight turnaround for scheduled pre-season matches. The club will also be upscaling security at the stadium to ensure that this does not happen again. Of course, this adds further expense, deviating vital funds away from enhancing the stadium, squad, and match-day experience at Argyle.

It should go without saying, but any true supporter of Argyle would not engage in such mindless destruction.

The trespassers’ ability to efficiently break down newly installed fencing with specific tools, before accessing the grounds team’s garage and recently-installed roof lighting control system suggests that the intruders had a solid operational knowledge of Home Park, and the club will be lending its full support to the police in an attempt to see these individuals identified and punished accordingly.

Police visited the stadium on Sunday to collect fingerprints and gather information, which includes a reasonable amount of CCTV footage which should go some way towards identifying the individuals responsible.

We are unable to publish images of the individuals at this time as the police are now leading an active investigation. CCTV footage may be released by Devon and Cornwall Police in the coming days to support their investigation efforts.

In the meantime, we urge anyone who may have any information that could be of assistance with the investigation to contact Devon and Cornwall Police, citing case reference number CR/048962/22. Supporters can also send any relevant information to feedback@pafc.co.uk.

A reward will be offered for information.

Fans reacted as intruders break into Plymouth’s stadium and take a tractor on a joyride ruining pitch work…

@jamiern50: I am not even an @Argyle supporter but this is absolutely stupid, Home Park had an immaculate pitch at the end of the season due to the hard work of the ground staff, this just puts pressure on them and potentially impacting the playing surface the players work on 🤦🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

@greenbarmy: Absolutely mindless, I can’t imagine why anybody would think this was a good idea

@BoddingtonJames: Sorry to hear this, hopefully they are caught and the damage is repaired for the new season

@Benp052: Totally despicable, although somewhere deep inside I’m thinking was it DA looking for algae. Hope the pitch recovers quickly

@vintagebikestig: Unbelievable. Truly mind numbing behaviour. What indeed was achieved?. How is blatant vandalism a ‘thrill’. Really do not get it!!

@GreenArmy46: No argyle fans doing that!! Guarantee they’ve traveled down the A38 and broke in the scum

@pafcdave2020: Hope they find the scumbags and they are named and shamed and then the appropriate punishment is delivered

@norse546: Find these bastards and parade them at the first Home game then let them lose to the green army to exact justice on them 🤬🤬🤬🤬

@emzp14: I hope the mindless fools get caught, the amount of work @chrisralph83 & his team put in every single day is second to none, absolute diabolical behaviour.

@TBowdery27: That’s terrible. Why would anyone feeling the need to destroy the pitch of any team particularly an EFL side who can’t budget for something like this

@BradJefferies11: Shocking! However I have no doubt that the grounds team will turn it around and the pitch will be outstanding as always come the start of the season

@NickieTombs: If some mindless numbnuts think this behaviour and damage is acceptable then maybe they should speak to the ground staff and gauge their reaction. My son works hard alongside his work mates to provide the best playing surface for the team. They do NOT provide a playground 🤬🤬

@hannahj4y: imagine breaking into home park for a jolly on a tractor?

@NeilJon84603173: Let’s make sure these individuals are caught and put before the courts 😡

@PAFC_Displays: Absolutely disgusting news this! We encourage anyone with any information to come forward @chrisralph83 and the team do an impeccable job all year round and for this to happen is a slap in the face. Hopefully the damage can be sorted and the culprits caught and fined heavily!!

@GTRowe31: Most Devon thing I’ve ever read

@WAFCNathan: They’ve done well to steal all that grass in such a short space of time

@calluke20: Nobheads 🤦‍♂️

@sue_curlysue: Absolute idiots!

@PRobbo83: Why? 🤷🏻‍♂️ Morons! 😡

@scaifey1999: Just why? Scum #pafc

@Simonpasty: What the hell is wrong with people

@jensonecfc: The last place anyone would want to break into surely?

@chubbs_20: Scumbags! Someone must know something. Fuming! Ground staff must be livid 🤬

@CarlBarnard15: Wow, what a awful thing to do! Idiots

@cravopafc: fucking scumbags.

@DanielJonKnight: Which mindless cunt has done this? No brains

@argyleross1985: Don’t usually support people grassing, but will make an exception here!! Dickheads.

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