A FUNDRAISING appeal to repair a football pitch after it was attacked by vandals with weedkiller reached its target within two days.

Bere Alston Football Club, which is home to the village’s junior and senior teams, was left picking up the tab after a substance was sprayed across the length of the pitch between May 19 and 20.

A fundraising page was established to help raise the £1,000 needed to carry out repairs and this was exceeded in two days — the total raised now stands at £1,400.

Will Westlake, first team manager and chairman of Bere Alston Football Club, said that he was shocked and disappointed someone had caused significant damage to the football pitch and he was also angry as the club had worked hard to make the pitch a pride of place for everyone in the village.

‘It will cost around £1,000 to put right and several months to repair. As well as setting up a crowdfunding page to help with the costs to repair the damage Bere Alston fire station are going up to the pitch to water it down and dilute it as much a possible.’

The club rents the football pitch from Bere Ferrers Parish Council, which reported the incident to the police.

Chairman of the parish council, Cllr Brian Lamb said: ‘We are horrified by it and we reported it to the police.

‘We hope that members of the public come forward with information to enable the police to find who is responsible.’

A Tavistock police spokesperson said: ‘It looks as though someone has walked across the length of the pitch with weedkiller — or something corrosive — that caused chemical burns on the ground.

‘The strip across the pitch is about a foot wide.’

The police added that the incident occurred at sometime between midnight on Tuesday, May 19 and 10.27am on Wednesday, May 20.

Witnesses to the incident are asked to contact 101 quoting crime reference number CR/040078/20.