Over the Christmas period, vandals caused major damage to several pitches in Kilbogget Park, Ballybrack, Co. Dublin. Gardaí received reports of a car being driven in circles around three of the pitches at around 4.30am on December 28.

A burnt out car on one of the pitches at Kilbogget Park. Photo courtesy Councillor Anna Grainger

Upon arrival, Gardaí discovered a burning car, abandoned in the middle of the piches. Shocking pictures showed the surfaces of the pitches completely dug up by tyre tracks, with a burnt out car left in the middle of the field. This act of vandalism has caused major disruption to the local community, where up to sixty teams in the area use the pitches, particularly Cabinteely FC, a League of Ireland First Division club. Two of their pitches could be out of action for "weeks or months", the club said in a statement. "How do we tell our players, some as young as five, coaches, managers, families and volunteers that we won’t be able to train or play on these pitches for weeks, maybe months."

“We are seeking meetings with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and An Garda Siochana for an urgent restoration of the pitches and plans to prevent a recurrence of this nature” they added.

Damage to the football pitches was very extensive. Photo courtesy Councillor Anna Grainger

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Councillor Anna Grainger took to Facebook to share her shock.

"Players, coaches, families and clubs are all too aware of the difficulties already presented during the winter months with adverse weather conditions affecting the playability of pitches all across the country, without having to deal with this outright vandalism of local facilities.

"Communities lose out big time and that's not taking into account of the financial cost to repairing these pitches.

"This trend of vandalism of pitches is not an isolated incident and would appear to be increasing. From sports pitches in Kilkenny and Limerick to Dundrum, Tallaght targeted 18 times and now Cabinteely in Dublin to name but a few.

"Something must be done to tackle the deliberate destruction of community facilities and bring the perpetrators to justice."