Vandals set fire to a Scottish non league club’s pitch causing £300,000 worth of damage, with a donation page launched to help raise funds.
Dunipace FC, a club in the East of Scotland League, said that Westfield Park’s artificial surface suffered extensive damage after an incident occurred on Friday evening, thankfully with no injuries reported.
Because of the fire, 7th tier of Scottish football, Dunipace, had cancelled their home match against Preston Athletic, before being offered other pitches in the area of Falkirk.
Absolutely heartbroken at the damage done to Westfield last night. Damage is estimated in six figures and anyone with information please contact the police or club. pic.twitter.com/CYwsa8ecMX
— Dunipace Football Club (@DunipaceFC) May 20, 2023
The match will now however take place at Stenhousemuir’s Ochilview Stadium, but some youth matches have had to be postponed.
In a tweet, the club said it was “absolutely heartbroken at the damage done” and asked people with any information about what happened to contact the police or club.
Local MSP and health secretary Michael Matheson also tweeted: “A brilliant community club doing great work in the local area have had their pitch badly damaged by mindless vandalism.
“It’s heartbreaking for everyone at the club and the local community.”
Police Scotland said it had received a report of a fire on Saturday morning.
Many thanks to our staff, especially Gareth, for offering to give up their day off to help support
It’s amazing to be part of such a generous community who are always ready and willing to do the right thing
⚔️
— Stenhousemuir FC (@StenhousemuirFC) May 20, 2023
A spokesperson said: “The fire was extinguished by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and there were no reports of any injuries.
“The fire is being treated as wilful and inquiries are ongoing.
“This fire caused a significant amount of damage and will have a substantial impact on the club and surrounding community.
“We are appealing for anyone who witnessed the fire, or anyone who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously, to get in touch.”
Absolutely disgraceful to see the vandalism that took place overnight at Dunipace FC’s Westfield Park with the artificial turf having been set alight causing a huge amount of damage both to the community who use the facility and financially. #dunipacefc #denny #falkirk pic.twitter.com/KSULkb93Q9
— Scotdrone (@scotdrone) May 20, 2023
Councillor Paul Garner, also a chairman of Dunipace FC, said he was devastated by the damage to the ground, as well as the other damage across the district.
He said, as per Falkirk Herald: “I received at call around 7.30am to say the fire brigade were at the ground and came down straight away. I was gutted by what I saw. It would seem that it had been set in the middle of the park and had been smouldering for some time.
“This morning there should have been several kids’ teams playing on the pitch and to see their faces when they arrived was awful. We had to reschedule some games and squeeze others into another area of the park.
“Everyone involved with Dunipace is devastated at what has happened. This will months to fix and will impact on the start of next season. But it’s not just the senior teams who are affected. This pitch is used by the community every night of the week and this fire has impacted on a lot of people.”
🆘We need your support!
As many of you have seen, we were victim to a deliberate fire that has destroyed a big part of our 4G pitch at Westfield.
This will seriously impact us financially and we ask for your help:
Read More: https://t.co/AHXqZhDOyL
— Dunipace Football Club (@DunipaceFC) May 20, 2023
Here’s how fans reacted as vandals set fire to a Scottish non league club’s pitch causing £300,000 worth of damage…
@leapaget: I’m so sorry you are all having to deal with this. Such a wonderful club so would be happy to donate money to help fix the pitch. I hope the police catch the culprits
@kintoredon: No idea why someone thinks doing that is acceptable. Hopefully they get what’s coming to them. Great to see @StenhousemuirFC offering their ground for today’s game!
@Carsonsow: A really don’t understand this carry on. Wit the fuck do you get out wrecking a pitch that’s took a club alot of time and money to do and there for kids to play on.. scum bastards!
@DJAirdrie: Brilliant gesture, Stenny. Well done.
@AntonMcGowan7: Tough enough for teams these days with the costs of pitches etc never mind shit like this!
@cmacrobbie: Fantastic gesture Stenny, a true community club 👏⚽️
@drstu111: Shocking 😡, really sorry to this. Hope you find those responsible and hope you get the pitch sorted soon
@Donaldo9710: Just no words!! I just can’t fathom what goes through the minds of those who would do this!! Do you have an option for individuals to donate to costs? This simply happens to often to clubs across @OfficialWoSFL and @EastScotlandFA!!
@BicycleDavie: Hopefully someone from the houses overlooking the pitch has seen something
@JamieHearns: Terrible the club here are at the heart of the local community why would anyone do this is beyond me
@StevenLatimer1: Despicable. Absolutely disgusting.
@Freemason_UK: FFS people are just sick. Football clubs are the heart of many communities. They bring joy to so many, particularly smaller non league clubs.
@FollowFollowGru: Stuff like this needs to be met with a jail sentence. Simple as that.
@SurreySteve3: Bloody Scumbags! 🤬
@davebuglass43: @VancityReynolds @rmcelhenney interested in a franchise in Scotland! Grassroots club.. doing great things in the football community… subjected to dreadful vandalism
@FitbaNomad: A remarkable amount of work has been done by the good people at @DunipaceFC to radically upgrade Westfield Park. A real gift to the local community, yet a tiny minority within it want to ruin it for all. Hope justice is served for this…
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