Cricketers call for action on trail bike vandals

Umina Cricket Club is calling for an increase in police presence following more than 10 incidents of vandalism to the club's home oval.

Club publicity officer Mr Gary Blake said it was extremely frustrating to see the oval damaged resulting in lost matches.

"On October 25, we were unable to play day two of a first grade game because trail bike riders had damaged every pitch on the square during an attack, shortly after some rain earlier in that week.

"Over the past couple of seasons we've seen our wicket square at Col Gooley Field (formerly Umina Oval) damaged by trail biker riders on about 10 occasions," Mr Blake said.

"This is in addition to having our pitch covers repeatedly pulled up, slashed and even set on fire.

"It has resulted in six days of cricket being completely lost when the damage has been such that it cannot be repaired at short notice.

Mr Blake said the club's small team of volunteers had put in extra hours in pitch preparation due to the vandalism.

"The club also purchased some new supplementary pitch covers last week to protect the pitches where the existing covers had been damaged and repaired," Mr Blake said.

"You can't imagine our dismay at about 6.30am on November 1 to find that during the night someone had come along and torn the covers off the pitch (totally destroying the new cover) and proceeded to use some sharp implement to gouge 60 to 70 holes along the wicket in strategic locations at either end, including a hole approximately 10cm deep and 50cm long just in front of the batting crease at one end.

"It was clear from the type of damage that whoever had done this had come along prepared with their own tools to commit this act and that they had been prepared to spend a great deal of time to do it.

"It is also fairly clear that the people responsible for these acts are aiming to have the maximum effect by damaging the pitches just in front of the batting crease at either end.

According to Mr Blake, the latest incident was reported to local police.

"We've reported this latest act of malicious damage to Woy Woy Police and they will advise Gosford Council," Mr Blake said.

"While we understand that there is little or no chance of us finding the culprits this time, we believe that we need to find a way to take some action to put a stop to this continued vandalism.

"We also believe that due to the number of times that the covers have been found in the adjoining skate park that there is little doubt that the vandals are among those that congregate in that area on most weekend nights, but we can't fathom the motivation for such specific attacks like the one last Friday night.

"Our club are also looking into organising private security and while this may help to act as a deterrent, it is unclear what may result if these people are caught in the act."

Mr Blake said he hopes that by making the continued acts of vandalism known to the Peninsula community it may prevent future attacks on the oval.

"We hope that by making it known about the continued vandalism that we might make more locals aware and ask that they be more vigilant about suspicious behaviour in the area," Mr Blake said.

"We also hope that a greater police presence in the area near the beach and skate park might have an effect on stopping the vandalism which is costing the Umina Cricket Club and Gosford Council a great deal of money and is also an immense frustration to the cricketing community in general."

Press release, 3 Nov 2008 Gary Blake, Umina Cricket Club