'Frustrated' coach slams rogue motocross riders for 'ruining' kid's football pitches in Northampton

A ‘frustrated’ children’s football coach has blasted rogue motocross riders for ‘ruining’ football pitches in Northampton.

Thorplands Club 81 under 10s coach and club chairman Gary Palmer says he is fed up with the state of the pitches at Round Spinney on Sunday mornings.

So much so that after 35 years of coaching he is deciding to call it a day.

Gary said: “This issue has been going on for two years now. You think it’s been sorted then all of a sudden it’s back again.

"It’s all churned up, all tyre marks. You just can’t get a consistent game of football on it. It’s unsafe, too.

"I was there Sunday morning. We’ve got five pitches there. There was a bloke with a kid no more than five years old going up and down the pitches on a motorbike.

"I approached him and asked him if he could go elsewhere and he told me to ‘do one’. I said I’ll call police and he said they won’t do anything about it and carried on riding.

“It's the same people all the time. It’s so frustrating. This is my last year of coaching football partly because of this – turning up to find ruined pitches.

“This is affecting more than one hundred people associated with the club. They’re all very annoyed.”

Gary, whose club pays West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) £3,500 a year for the pitches, believes more signage could help.

He said: “I think some more signs around the pitches to say it’s illegal would help. People currently play dumb and pretend they don’t know it’s illegal. The police could then turn up and say it’s clearly illegal and point to the signs.”

WNC councillor Phil Larratt said the issue is ‘appalling’ and that the council will ‘ensure the pitches are kept safe’.

Councillor Larratt said: “The football pitches at Round Spinney provide an invaluable area for local people to play football as well as providing space for residents and the local community to meet, socialise and exercise. It is appalling that some people show such blatant disregard for this space and damage it by riding their motorcycles across it. We will ensure that the pitches are maintained and kept safe for the playing of football. I would encourage anyone who notices such anti-social behaviour to report this to the police with as much detail as possible at the earliest opportunity for investigation.”

Northants Police have been contacted for comment.