A group of travellers caused ‘absolutely devastating’ damage to a community cricket club when they unlawfully parked on their grounds for nearly a week, Daily Mail Sport has been told.
Plymstock Cricket Club in Plymouth were the victims when a group broke in and set up an unauthorised encampment on the outfield on Monday, July 28.
After five days of disturbance, which included claims of locals being attacked, they eventually departed on Saturday August 2 having been served with a Notice to Quit by Plymouth City Council.
Thousands of pounds worth of damage was inflicted and human waste was allegedly left, yet Plymstock CC say it felt like they have been left to fend for themselves after limited help from the local council.
Plymstock vice-chairman Rob Baker was the first to deal with the travellers when they arrived on the Monday night and has detailed the whole experience to us.
‘On the first night I sat down with three of them and said: “I’ll do you a deal that I’ll give you unlimited fresh drinking water on the proviso you don’t touch our pavilion or the garages or go on the square”,’ Baker said after taking away key equipment from the club earlier that evening.
Plymstock Cricket Club in Devon was taken over by travellers for nearly a week last month
After breaking into the ground, £50,000 worth of damage is believed to have been caused
Human waste was allegedly also left on Plymstock’s outfield and the surrounding areas
‘They said they didn’t but it was just the rest of it…’
Baker went on to explain the experience after 34 caravans and approximately 110 people made the key community asset their base for the week.
‘The day they were leaving they decided to do donuts on the outfield and then blew the engine on it and left the vehicle there so we had to dispose of it,’ he added.
‘In the net compound which is our main training facility all the metal gates were bent, the astroturf was cut with knives, secure bolts were missing, the netting was cut and some of the poles were bent so it’s taken that training facility out of action. The quote for a new one for next season is between £20,000-25,000.
‘There was also footage of them driving across the square and we were so lucky there was no rain because they had basically made it a race track all the way around (the ground).’
Baker estimates around £50,000 worth of damage was caused in the form of the net vandalism, replacing and enhancing security measures, lost earnings and repairs that were needed to facilities and the outfield.
But it wasn’t just the cricket club that were hampered, but also the Plymstock community.
‘The overall impact was devastating, absolutely devastating,’ Baker explained. ‘There is a play park next to the club, so nobody could go there because kids of travellers were intimidating people. No one could go and walk their dog because they had dogs on the loose who attacked people.
A shot of the ground shows the tyre marks after the group repeatedly drove over the outfield
There were also claims of local residents being intimidated by the travellers during their stay
On the day that the group departed, a car was left on the outfield after its engine blew when they ‘were doing donuts’, with volunteers left to remove the vehicle
‘The psychological fear of the residents too, because they weren’t leaving their properties. I got sent ring doorbell footage of kids defecating in people’s driveways and trying to break into sheds.
‘It happened during school holidays as well and usually the park and grass is full of picnics, bike rides, but that had to stop. Businesses were financially impacted because no one was going in there and cars were getting vandalised in the nearby car park.’
When the travellers departed, Baker led the clean-up team which saw more than 50 volunteers spend hours down at the ground.
This included ‘filling 24 bin liners full of litter and two bin liners of human waste’ after the council, who Baker is critical of, provided just one Portaloo.
Parts of the outfield were stained after ‘chemical toilet waste’ was emptied on it by the travellers, while there were also tyre marks from vehicles.
In a remarkable display of community spirit, Plymstock were able to get their games on the following weekend after what Baker estimates was about 30 hours of work.
There were also several heartwarming offers of help from local businesses and several surrounding cricket clubs donated to the recovery effort.
But it was within his dealings with the council that Baker received another blow shortly after the ordeal.
Parts of the outfield were also left stained after ‘chemical toilet waste’ was emptied
Facilities were damaged and local volunteers were left with a hefty clean-up operation
The net practice area in the bottom right corner of the photo was damaged
Plymstock vice-chairman Rob Baker recounted details of the ‘absolutely devastating’ ordeal
‘I met with the council to prevent it happening again and we discussed various options,’ he said. ‘The council basically turned around and said “we’ve got no money, you’ll have to fund it all yourself”.
When contacted for comment, Plymouth City Council said they ‘worked with the cricket club committee’ throughout the ordeal and gave support in terms of the clean-up operation and prevention measures.
They added that they have ‘agreed to contribute towards these measures’, although the club insists this has not involved any funding.
A JustGiving page was launched in the aftermath to ‘Support the Plymstock Sports Community’ and while the £4,000 target has been beaten via fundraising of £5,851, it is still some way short of the real cost to the cricket club.
Yet, despite everything, Baker’s heroic efforts hopefully won’t go unrewarded and he remains remarkably positive when looking forward.
‘For myself I’ve got 25 years of blood, sweat and tears trying to build that club up and I thought it was all coming unraveled in space of three to four days,’ he concluded. ‘It was a very trying time.
‘But the outpouring of support from the cricket community and local residents of Plymstock has been really heartwarming.
‘We’ll come back and we’ll be stronger.’
You can donate to the JustGiving page to support the Plymstock Sports Community HERE
