Vandals who have spent their time ripping up the Rotorua rugby club have stopped hundreds from playing their scheduled games.
Video / Herald NOW
Hundreds of Rotorua kids have been unable to play rugby on their club’s field after vandals broke in to do burnouts almost two weeks ago.
Now, one club member is trying to find the “bloody idiots” responsible.
It was one of several recent incidents, with Rotorua councillors told this weekincidents of sportsfield damage and vandalism are on the rise.
Community experience group manager Alex Wilson and active and engaged communities manager Rob Pitkethley spoke to a Rotorua Lakes Council meeting on Wednesday about the issue.
The topic hit headlines last month when parents attending a rugby training session at Ray Boord Park and Westbrook Reserve tried to stop trail bike riders doing doughnuts on the field, after becoming fed-up with the masked gang’s intimidating antics.
It followed reports of vandalism there in the preceding weeks.
Wilson said the council worked with police and additional security measures included CCTV and limiting reserve access points.
She said the council was recently successful in getting reparation for two motorbike-damage incidents.
Pitkethley said the council did what it could to deter vandalism, which was most often caused by vehicles.
Two-wheeled vehicles were most difficult to stop as restricting their access to sports fields could also block pram and wheelchair users.
Rotorua Lakes Council active and engaged communities manager Rob Pitkethley. Photo / Laura Smith
“It’s a combined piece of work with our community safety team and police friends to try to deter as much as we can.”
Council reserves weren’t the only target.
Waikite Rugby and Sports Club’s fields were damaged recently when several vehicles took advantage of an unlocked gate to get access, driving over a curb and a horizontal power pole used as a bollard.
Club member Kim Ratapu, a retired police officer, said he had been conducting an investigation of sorts on behalf of the club to try to find the “bloody idiots” responsible. The damage was also reported to the police.
Ratapu told Local Democracy Reporting he spoke with neighbours who said they heard the vehicles on Saturday, May 24 about 9.30pm. He had been going through video footage trying to find something to identify the culprits.
The fields hadn’t been used since the incident and the club was working out what was needed to fix the tyre ruts.
Ratapu hoped the fields would be usable by this weekend.
It was the first such incident he was aware of at the club, which had a long history in Koutu and strong community focus.
Waikite Rugby and Sport Club in Koutu. Photo / Andrew Warner
He did not believe the culprits were local and did not think they had considered the consequences, such as the children who used the fields each week – numbering about 200 – but had been unable to because of the damage.
“It saddens me the children had to miss out … they just want to play.”
Despite that, he offered an “olive branch” to those responsible and wanted to try some kind of community intervention.
“We can sort this, just need them to front up.”
Ratapu was aware of other similar incidents in the city, particularly involving motorbikes. He called it “quite alarming”.
Bay of Plenty District Rugby League chairman Anaru Pewhairangi –a former Rotorua Police area commander – said, like others, he was disappointed by the damage caused around different sports fields in Rotorua.
He encouraged those people responsible to “please do the right thing and help us to look after our fields for the benefit of all of our users and visitors”.
Central Pride Sports Club trains at various fields, including Mataatua, Westbrook and Puketawhero Park.
Chairman Jason Walker said he noticed damage to sports fields “quite often” and had seen motorbikes being ridden on them.
He did not think the riders had thought about what would happen if a child got in their path.
He believed there had been more incidents at Westbrook lately.
Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist since 2019.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
