THE grounds of Tavistock’s football club were subject to an arson attack last week — the latest in a string of anti-social behaviour that has been affecting the club for several years.

As Tavistock Football Club geared up for the start of the season, a substantial pile of grass cuttings at the side of one of the pitches was set alight on Wednesday evening, burning throughout the night and found the following morning.

Caretaker for the club Allen Lewis said: ‘I found the fire in the morning as I could see a load of smoke on the edge of the pitch. There were also cider and lager cans scattered around and an aerosol can which I guess was used to flare it up.

‘We had to get a few volunteers down there to make gaps between the burning piles to stop them from spreading and wait until it dampened down.’

‘It was burning for 36 hours and it absolutely stunk down there.’

The fire scorched a significant area of the ground on the edge of the training area and Allen said he half-filled a dustbin with cans, boxes, paper and plastic packaging that was left behind near the fire.

‘It’s so frustrating,’ Allen said. ‘It’s a lovely place, one of the best facilities in the county that is looked after by volunteers who all do their best to keep it at its best for the teams that play on it.

‘It’s really annoying, unacceptable and anti-social. The football club and grounds are private land — only club members are allowed on it and invited teams, but we always seem to have people partying there.’

The fire was the latest crime in a spate of incidents that has troubled the club. Trespassers have left litters on the club grounds on a regular occurrence and last Saturday club volunteers had to pick up a number of bottles left over from a party that had obviously taken place outside the building.

A game had to be stopped last season because broken glass was found on the pitch, there have been numerous occasions of drivers doing ‘wheelies’ and ‘donuts’ in the car park causing potholes which have had to be refilled and two and a half years ago all the lights in the car park were smashed causing over £3,000 worth of damage.

The police have been informed about the fire. A police spokesperson said that this type of anti-social behaviour was unacceptable and needed to be discouraged.

They wanted to remind people that the football grounds were private property and people shouldn’t enter the grounds uninvited.

Allen said the police advised that the club should think about installing CCTV, which he said was going to be considered.