Mindless vandals caused £300,000 in damage at a Scots Junior football club after setting fire to the pitch.
The 4G astroturf pitch at Dunipace Football Club, an East of Scotland First Division, side was set ablaze at around 7.30am on Saturday, May 20.
Police said the fire is being treated as wilful and an investigation has been launched into the circumstances.
Yesterday the club said they were gutted about what had happened after they spent eight years fundraising for the new surface.
Anne McVicar, one of the club volunteers, opened the pitch up at 7.40am for the youth teams and discovered the pitch "smouldering", club secretary Stephen Tait told the Record.
"We haven't heard anything from police yet, as we only discovered it around 7.40am this morning," said Stephen.
"We've never had that kind of vandalism at the club before. There's been quite a few issues recently within Denny itself. I heard last night there were other areas of vandalism.
"It's an AstroTurf surface and they've set fire to it - it's basically just melted away, and it's down to the rubber now. I would say around 25% of the pitch has been damaged in the middle area.
"We'll need to speak to insurers, but whether it's a case of replacing the whole pitch I don't know. From our point of view, we aren't really keen on having brand new turf in the damaged section then turf that's had five years of wear next to it.
"The main hassle is displacing our youth teams, our amateur team, our senior team and our ladies section. That's the big disappointment for us.
Stephen said the effort to modernise the park and fundraise to have the surface replace had taken around eight years, which made the wilful fire-raising difficult to accept.
Stephen also praised other clubs who reached out to try and help in their time of need.
Falkirk FC Jamie Swinney CEO Jamie Swinney tweeted about the damage and offered the club their stadium for yesterday's match.
He said: "Absolutely disgraceful. I hope those responsible face the consequences. If you need someone to play your game today, we@FalkirkFC will host FOC at The Stadium. Let me know if that helps."
Stenhousemuir also offered to help the club in their time of need.
Stephen said: "Stenhousemuir have kindly offered to host our home tie, so we are there this afternoon, and I believe Falkirk also offered their ground.
"Stenhousemuir contacted us, and have also offered us some AstroTurf that they have from their previous pitch. We don't know if it will be feasible to use it but we certainly appreciate the gesture."
A fundraising page set up by the club yesterday has raised over £10,000 in less than 24 hours.
Police Inspector Moreland said: “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.”
Anyone with any information is asked to contact 101 quoting incident 1088 of 20 May, 2023. Alternatively Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111, where anonymity can be maintained.
To donate to the club's cause, click here.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
READ NEXT:
Crime bosses caged for supplying Scotland’s most wanted gangsters with fake passports
Couple threatened with £20k fine after building fence that blocks neighbour’s home
Fern Britton's 'loaded tweet' aimed at Phillip Schofield sends fans wild amidst feud rumours
Mum fighting for life in Turkey after airport seizure caused heart to stop
Drivers stunned after traffic warden puts parking ticket on every vehicle in car park
CCTV shows brazen thief stealing clothes from Scots store as owners launch social media appeal
