Travellers have dismissed a football club's fears their encampment on its pitch could destroy the youth organisation. The traveller camp on Dave Eastwood Sports Ground, off Lenton Lane, was first reported on Tuesday, July 4.
On the morning of Wednesday, July 5, several caravans were stationed on the pitch of the Pelican Colts football club, items had been littered across the playing field, and benches had been broken. A representative for the club, which was supposed to return to hosting youth matches after a short break, said the encampment not only meant children were left disappointed but imperilled the existence of the club itself.
"Pelican Colts could be wiped out by this," a club spokesperson said. But when asked about the harmful financial and practical implications of their occupation of the pitch, a traveller dismissed the concerns of the football club and did not specify when the group would leave.
Is the government doing enough to help with the cost of living? Let us know
A Pelican Colts representative added: "We are very sympathetic to their way of life and don't want to see them put in a bad light, but they have started to cause damage. Storage units have been accessed and equipment has been sprawled over the ground, benches have been broken, they've painted on the buildings, and forced access into one of the units.
"The longer it goes on, the more parents will see their children are not getting the facilities and start thinking they should go elsewhere. If we lose a few kids, coaches might struggle to put teams together and the eviction cost on top of repairs and clean up could be incredibly damaging."
Pelican Colts volunteers explained the situation was particularly distressing as the trespassers were damaging the hard work of former club secretary Kip Reynolds, who died from cancer earlier this year. "For the football club it has been a horrible year, we lost our club secretary Kip Reynolds to cancer, and he was the heartbeat of our football club. We had no direction and no purpose seven years ago, but Kip came in and welcomed every family to take part - travellers included.
"He put in a lot of his own money and hard work - the club was a community but that is being destroyed. We so desperately wanted to keep his legacy going, but we're having to watch everything he did go down the drain."
Nottingham City Council previously stated around 25 vehicles were parked in the area at one point. Although the pitch is on Nottingham City Council land, the site is long-term leased out to the Pelican Colts football club, meaning the club is now looking into the process of evicting the travellers itself.
