Vandals cause havoc at two Wexford GAA club pitches

The GAA is one of, if not the biggest and most important communities, across all of Ireland…

Vandals have decided to cause havoc at two Wexford GAA pitches in recent times, leaving community members dumbfounded.

Just before Christmas, the club grounds at North Wexford GAA Club – Kilanerin GAA Club – were on the receiving end of a reckless act by vandals, occurring on December 22nd.

Their pitch was destroyed by tyre marks, with the club simply questioning ‘why’?

Another pitch, Oulart-The Ballagh GAA Club, was also hit by vandals only recently. The incident of criminal damage occurred at approximately 7:50pm on Jan 7th.

Oulart-The Ballagh GAA club released a statement condeming the unlawful behavior and noted that the incident has been reported to the Gardaí:

“Oulart-The Ballagh GAA Club is extremely disappointed after intimidating anti-social behaviour and criminal damage occurred at our Top Pitch on Tuesday 7th January at approximately 7.50pm.

Three young individuals riding a Scrambler Motorbike and Electric Scooters intimidated walkers on our floodlight walking track, threatened club members and repeatedly drove across the pitch causing significant damage to the surface.

This behaviour is unacceptable and very disappointing on our property and club grounds which is always open for use for our Community.

A huge amount of time, work, expense and fundraising by club members and the community goes into maintaining our facilities of which we are proud of. Our facilities our used throughout the year by our GAA and Camogie Clubs, children and adults throughout the parish. All ages should feel safe to enjoy our pitches.

This incident has been reported to An Garda Síochána. A helmet was also left behind by one of the individuals responsible. It can be collected at Oulart Garda Station.”

It’s unclear whether the two incidents are linked at the time of writing.

One thing is for sure; it wasn’t a GAA member who did this because any member of the GAA would understand the amount of volunteerism, fundraising, and the amount of time that goes into the upkeep of our local GAA pitches and our local community assets.

Both incidents were reported to An Garda Síochána. Anyone with information on either of the incidents is urged to contact the Gorey Garda Station or the Oulart Garda Station.