VOLUNTEERS at Padiham Football Club are warning young people not to trespass and play on their grounds.

It comes after members of the club turned up to the facilities on Wells Street to discover some youths had played football on their pitch and also damaged walls which had just been painted on last weekend.

Media officer Darren Outhwaite said that club officials had been disheartened that some of their hard work was going to have to be re-done.

He said: "We have been doing a lot to the club by painting the walls blue around the ground and we were re-seeding the pitch.

"With the current lockdown it had given us a chance to get things done and we had some problems with the goalmouths and were trying to get it ready for the new season even though we don't know when that will be.

"But some young lads have climbed over the walls and scuffed all of the paint which means we are having to re-paint the walls.

"There are no goals up but they have damaged the goal areas too where they have played football.

"It has made us very disheartened that we are putting half a day into painting and also the groundsman has worked to get the pitch ready and it was damaged now.

"There is only so much you can do security wise and we have CCTV but we don't want to put that out because they are youths.

"We cannot put out barbed wire or broken glass on the wall as we are liable for anyone getting hurt.

"We are asking parents to make sure their children do not enter the grounds.

"Not only are they trespassing but it's also dangerous to be climbing over walls and onto the roof.

"Also we had been putting chemicals down on the pitch and they are risking getting hurt by the chemicals.

"I can understand boredom can be an issue but we want them to stay away."