Travellers move on to football pitches

More travellers have moved on to community football pitches near Oswestry.

The Oswestry Boys' and Girls' Football Club was holding talks today to try to mitigate the damage being caused to the football pitches at Park Hall.

Officials say that if the travellers are not off the land by the weekend a fundraising five-a-side competition could be affected.

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About 20 families drove their caravans on to the land on Saturday when they found the site of their Christian travellers' event at Halston Hall, near Whittington, waterlogged.

Club chairman Neil Jones said thousands of pounds of damage may have been caused to the pitches, which may now have to be re-turfed.

He said: "They have wrecked at least five of the football pitches, driving across them. Some of the families have taken our pleas on board and stayed off the pitches, but not all of them.

"At the moment our senior pitch is unaffected, but with more and more vehicles arriving we are really concerned that it is still in jeopardy."

Mr Jones said he and other club officials were in talks with United Utilities about an entrance and exit it created as part of work to re-line underground pipes. He said: "We need to block up one of those to avoid more damage to the pitches.

"The travellers have told us the Christian festival will end on Tuesday evening we hope that the caravans will leave the land by Wednesday. If not I do not know what we will do about the five-a-side tournament planned for the weekend to raise money for a new senior team.

"We are all volunteers who work very hard to make this club a success. Hundreds of youngsters enjoy playing football here. To see the mess that has been made is heartbreaking."

Owners of the Halston Hall Estate did not want to comment.