A LOCAL football club chairman in Earley has revealed his frustrations after it was discovered that all of the goalposts at their training ground at Laurel Park have been bent over or removed.

It is believed that the vandalism attack, which happened at Laurel Park, Lower Earley, took place over the weekend, between 8pm on October 31, and 8am, November 1.

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Ian Jobson, Laurel Park FC "With the immanent second COVID lockdown that may not have such an impact but as it stands we have to prepare to play matches so we are working with opposition teams to see if games can be played away from home.

"This does, however, mean a loss of income into our Cafe and junior referees that will now not be able to run games this weekend."

Residents have claimed that they reportedly saw groups of teenagers committing the acts, however this has not yet been confirmed. Mr Jobson has said that the police are aware of the incident.

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He added: "We'd like the culprits to do the decent thing and come forward and admit their guilt. We'd like them to understand what the impact of their actions are.

"People see things like this as "victimless" crimes but they really aren't.

"We are a community focused club, everything our 70+ volunteers do is for the betterment of the local community, and together we put in thousands of hours each year to help the children and teenagers in Lower Earley and the surrounding areas.

"When we experience things like this it is so disheartening to think that there are members of our community that would want to disrupt what we are trying to do.

"At the moment we don't know how much repairs will cost but in the end it is all of us that will have to pay as it will come from our taxes, money that could be much better spent elsewhere.

"So if you were wondering why there is a pot hole that hasn't been fixed, or a grass verge that hasn't been cut, a drain that hasn't been cleared or a street that hasn't been swept it is because money is thrown away repairing the damage by vandalism every year."

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A spokesman for the Wokingham Borough Council said: “We received information that vandalism had taken place at Laurel Park in Earley over the weekend.

"Unfortunately all 6 of the 11-a-side goals were targeted. We have worked with our contractors this morning to remove all of the goals from the site and make the areas that were damaged safe for local users.

"The goals will be reinstated at a later date.”