Non league club devastated as part of stadium is set on fire

A certain non league club have been left devastated as part of their stadium is set on fire in an apparent arson they have confirmed.

The culprits broke into and have destroyed two porta cabins which had contained charity donations and sports equipment at the Wirral based football club.

Club officials at West Kirby FC were shocked and disheartened by the destruction left at its ground at Greenbank Road, that caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Wirral Globe confirm that one of the cabins contained hundreds of pounds worth of charitable donations that were to be sold to raise funds for the charity Wirral Hospice St John’s.

In the other one, it contained some floodlight equipment and a new boiler which was to installed in the clubhouse once the current restrictions were lifted.

The fire engines were called to the non league club last week after smoke was spotted drifting across the site by a neighbour.

The debris has since been cleared, and now West Kirby are hoping to replace the porta cabins in the next few months. 

Club official John Kearney described the incident as “devastating”.

Car boot sales at the Greenbank Road ground are a vital part of the club’s activities and have raised thousands of pounds for Wirral Hospice St John’s, which provides free care for adult patients with life-limiting illnesses.

John Kearney told the Globe: “Obviously, we don’t know who has done this; could have been adults or kids. 

“It’s just mindless vandalism and will have a massive impact not only on the football club but on our charities, particularly Wirral Hospice St John’s, which is our designated charity.

“One of the porta cabins had contributions for St John’s Hospice on it, so for someone to see that and set fire to is just terrible. 

“The hospice won’t lose out because of this, even if I have to give them the money myself.”

Merseyside Fire & Rescue service said in a statement: “Firefighters were called to West Kirby Football Club on Greenbank Road on Tuesday.

“Crews were alerted at 6.20pm and on scene at 6.26pm. Three fire engines attended.

“On arrival crews found a fire involving two portacabins.

“Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire.

“Crews left the scene at 8.33pm.”

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It read: “We are raising money in aid of WEST KIRBY FOOTBALL CLUB CAR BOOT SALE, which supports WIRRAL HOSPICE ST JOHNS, and every donation will help.

“Last week two storage facilities at the ground – which store the collected donations for the regular  car boot sales for the Hospice – were the subject of an arson attack and both they and their contents were completely destroyed.

“We are seeking donations to cover the cost of replacing the storage facilities with a steel container,  and support for the cost of the clearing and removal of the burnt out remains and destroyed donations.

“The storage facilities held all the donations collected over the past twelve months which were considerable, due to the COVID lockdown restrictions preventing car boot sales during 2020.

“West Kirby Football Club Car Boot Sales have supported Wirral Hospice St Johns since they started 21 years ago and have donated thousands pf pounds to our designated charity.

“Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to us.”

Fans reacted as the non league club are left devastated as part of their stadium is set on fire…

@ged_nolan: Terrible that!

@lowerbreck: Sorry to see this folks 🤬

@thaibrownie: 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

@johnroc92928019: This mindless and demoralising act should be treated in law as a new kind of crime given that there are so many victims .

@robbie_m79: So sorry to hear that, sick of seeing stuff like that. Hope you can sort something out, the club and John deserve better that that

@cheshirelines1: Gutted for you guys, as if keeping teams going isn’t hard enough! Some absolute whoppers entertain themselves by destroying things that volunteers have worked so hard to provide

@Poulton_VicsFC: Gutted for you lads, Roy and Margie work hard a the club and they don’t deserve that. Feral rats at work again

@SouthLplFC: Sorry to see this guys! Some proper scumbags around

@paulreid125: That’s horrendous. Some proper pondlife about. Hope the rats get caught

@mickycot:What is up with some people,we had similar happen @GLENAVONJFC1992 a few years ago,the local community/football community rallied around,the response was fantastic

@permarlings7: There are so many idiots about hell bent on causing mindless destruction. You can’t refer to them as animals as animals are higher in the chain than this lot!

@dancingneats: That’s disgusting 😡 So sorry to hear this has happened, really enjoyed my time playing with the ladies team, the club doesn’t deserve this! Lowlife scum who did this should be locked up 😡