Cable thieves target Danville sports ground

LAST year, Virginia United Football Club (VUFC) gave the Danville Sports Grounds a R70 000 makeover, which included securing the walls around the ground, which were missing concrete slabs. Despite the move, cable thieves have continued to plague the local club, stealing cables from several of the ground’s floodlights.

“This happens all the time. We suspect the cable thieves hide in the Virginia Bush Nature Reserve and strip the cables late at night. Two of our floodlights which are in the reserve and surrounded by foliage are always being targeted. Each time we have to replace the cables we pay upwards of R5 000; we cannot wait on the municipality because our boys need the facilities,” explained chairman of VUFC, Mark Ridsdale.

“Over the past few years, we’ve had problems with graffiti taggers who have vandalised our advertising boards. We’ve had vandals damage change rooms, steal pipes and break windows. We’ve now repainted the clubhouse, fitted the change rooms with proper locks, fixed the fencing and are in the process of fixing the collapsing concrete slabs. However, cable theft remains a constant headache. It’s frustrating for the parents and children, who come down for training only to be told we cannot use the field.”

Ridsdale added the municipality had, in the past, cited financial constraints as the reason preventing them from fixing broken floodlights or leaking pipes.

“We take pride in our grounds and of the area, and as a club that is more than 45 years old, we want grounds that reflect this pride,” he said.