THIEVES stole more than £20,000 of equipment from a grassroots football club, leaving volunteers heartbroken and fearing they may not be able to continue. 

Kit Houghton, secretary at Wickford Town Football Club, has revealed a series of storage containers were broken into at the club’s base in Bartlett Road on Friday night. 

Lawn mowers, equipment used to paint white lines around the football pitches, wheelbarrows and more equipment was stolen – totalling more than £20,000. 

Echo: Busted - one of the storage container locksBusted - one of the storage container locks (Image: Wickford Town FC)

Echo: Empty - the storage container once holding the machineryEmpty - the storage container once holding the machinery (Image: Wickford Town FC)

Echo: Hanging - wheelbarrow on a caged light boxHanging - wheelbarrow on a caged light box (Image: Wickford Town FC)

The club is run by volunteers who now fear if they cannot raise enough money to replace the equipment, the club may be forced to fold. 

Mr Houghton said: “We’re all gutted and heartbroken because we’re a community charity club that has more than 350 young players and three adult teams, and although we can continue hosting matches for the next few weeks, after that, we can’t.

“All we want to do is provide grassroots footballing opportunities for the community but those who have carried out this theft will soon be stopping us from doing that.

“At the moment, the pitches are fine but with the bad weather coming in, the grass will quickly grow and the white lining will disappear, and we can’t do anything due to our mowers and machines being stolen.

“It happened Friday night between 6pm and 1am. The locked gates had been cut through and four of the storage units had been broken into.

“The chairman arrived at 8am on Saturday to find the state of the site and the equipment missing.

“It’s put us in a sticky situation for the future.”

It follows a case in 2019 where crooks targeted the site and took £16,000 of gear.

In the wake of the theft in Bartlett Park, Mr Lodge set up a GoFundMe page to help them replace the stolen ground equipment.

Since Saturday, £1,455 has been raised of their £20,000 target, which has left the volunteers “appreciative”.

Mr Houghton added: “We are grateful for the community support to hopefully recover the stolen goods.

“Without the equipment, we can’t manage the pitches, and our ability to put on home fixtures is impossible, resulting in children and young adults to miss out.”

To donate, visit: gofundme.com/f/stolen-ground-equipment-funds-needed.