Copper wire worth thousands of dollars has been stolen from sporting clubs across south-east Queensland in the past month and police are concerned it's a sign of a growing trend.
Late last month Narangba Demons Baseball Club had hundreds of metres of copper stolen from the ground surrounding the diamond field, leaving younger teams at the club north of Brisbane unable to train.
"We rely on the lights for midweek training at night," Demons president Chris Clifton said.
"We train anywhere from 5pm onwards up until 10pm … you just can't play baseball without lights at night."
Mr Clifton said it looked as though thieves had cut power to the field via a fuse box, breaking through a padlock.
They then managed to access the electrical pits and pull out 320 metres of copper cable.
"The damaging thing for us is that we've got to keep fixing this type of damage," he said.
"It's just costing organisations lots of money and small organisations don't have those funds."
The Narangba Eagles soccer club, located next to the Demons, had copper cabling used for lights around the field stolen three times in six months last year.
"All we want to do is see the club, the kids and the members succeed," Eagles president Darren Magin said.
"Having it done three times, it just rips your heart out."
Copper theft increasing across the state
In March, Queensland energy providers reported that thefts and attempted thefts of copper from their infrastructure had nearly tripled between 2020 and 2022.
Data from the Queensland Police Service (QPS) also suggests copper thefts have increased significantly across south-east Queensland in the past two years, with construction sites often targeted by criminals.
People sell it to scrap yards for about $7 a metre.
It's collected and reused in things like vehicle motors, computers, construction and machinery.
Police said sporting fields, farms, energy and water supplies, and community venues were also commonly affected.
"[Thieves] may hide in plain sight and look legitimate by wearing high-visibility clothing and driving construction vehicles like utilities, vans and trucks," a QPS spokesperson said.
Moreton Bay police said they had received 55 reports of copper theft since last November.
In January, a North Lakes school had its cabling removed from lighting poles on the grounds and sporting field.
On December 21, police investigated the theft of copper wire from several sites in Ipswich, including the BMX track at Willey Street Park.
Vision made public by police shows two men leaving the BMX track on foot carrying large quantities of cable.
Councils left to prop up teams
The Narangba Eagles soccer club has more than 700 members.
"That's more than 60 teams across all age groups and without being able to use [the field] it's an administrative nightmare," Mr Magin said.
The baseball club has 17 teams and nearly 200 players.
Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Peter Flannery said copper theft had occurred at "a few recently completed projects".
"Copper wire theft specifically is an issue that more frequently impacts projects involving major lighting and telecommunications, but it's also an issue councils deal with," he said.
"Where possible, we use alternative materials to copper wire."
The council has replaced some underground copper at the baseball and soccer clubs with aluminium, at a cost of several thousand dollars.
Aluminium is lighter and cheaper metal than copper, but is harder to bend and significantly less conductive.
Because more aluminium is required to conduct the same amount of electricity as copper, this can also cause installation issues when using existing underground conduit.
Electrical pits now have signage explicitly saying they contain aluminium and the Harris Avenue fields are under the gaze of CCTV.
Mr Magin said it would be easy for the club to close at this point.
"But it's not something we're prepared to do … we'll fight these guys," he said.
