A pitch used by a junior football club with hundreds of members has been left trashed after a rapper organised a meet of bikes and vehicles to film a music video. Much of the grass at Betterment Park in Cwm has been chewed up by tyres and the volunteers behind the club say they now need to raise thousands to fix the damage.
Rapper Dight 23 said he was "shocked and devastated" by the damage and claimed those responsible were not part of his meet. The RTB Ebbw Vale Junior Football Club has launched a fundraiser targeting £3,500 to repair the tyre tracks left across the field. The volunteer-run club said the damage caused on Sunday has left them "devastated for our children as they now don't have a pitch to play on and being a grassroots club we have zero funding".
The club — who host football for around 300 children aged five to 14 — said a match was played on Sunday morning and the pitch was locked up at about 12.30pm. That evening the club became aware of videos circulating social media showing a gathering at the field with loud rap music blaring and youths tearing across grass on quad bikes. Club media officer Alex Price estimated there were around 40 youths and 10 vehicles at the scene.
