QAFL Premiers Palm Beach-Currumbin cause $60k worth of damage to cricket oval in post match celebrations

Palm Beach-Currumbin footballers caught out on Snapchat causing $60k damage to Salk Oval Jack Harbour & Terry Wilson, Gold Coast Bulletin September 24, 2017 10:00pm Subscriber only

PALM Beach-Currumbin footballers have been caught out on Snapchat causing $60,000 worth of damage to the cricket club’s pitch in what has been described as ‘out of control’ grand final celebrations.

The football club this morning accepted responsibility for the damage bill after Snapchat video emerged of its players on scene as a car doing doughnuts ripped up the expensive pitch in the early hours of Sunday morning. Palm Beach-Currumbin footballers caught out on Snapchat doing burnouts on Salk Oval, which caused $60,000 damage. Photo: Supplied

Officials from Palm Beach-Currumbin Cricket Club, which shares the oval with the footy club, were irate when they discovered the brand new pitch worth $60,000 had been ripped up by ‘idiots’ doing doughnuts.

Palm Beach-Currumbin Australian football Club president Anne Cornish said the club accepted responsibility for the damage believed to have been done during celebrations of the club’s QAFL grand final win over Labrador.

“We won on Saturday and it occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning,” she said. The grand final celebrations were said to be ‘out-of-control’

“We’ll take full responsibility. It was a football club function.

“We’ll pay for the damage to rectify the pitch.

“We don’t have any individuals to pinpoint this on but we’ve banned the boys from the ground at this point and we’ll be talking with the leadership group tomorrow.” Salk Oval’s new five-block cricket wicket has been badly damaged

Cricket club president Ryan Kettle said he was devastated by the damage and called on the football club to get rid of those responsible.

“The assumption is it’s either players or supporters of the senior footy club,” he said.

“I would call it Mad Monday celebrations gone out-of-control. One footballer appears to being towed by the car on the Snapchat.

“Hopefully this is contained to a few idiots within the organisation that will hopefully get the boot as soon as possible.

“For me it’s just more of a disappointment that players within the footy club would feel the need to do that.”

But football club president Anne Cornish said it was unclear whether any players were actually driving the car that did the damage.

She said the club would investigate the incident and discuss penalties among the leadership group.

“We need to find out the facts first … we need to find out who’s done what and why and all the rest of it before we even think about what sanctions will apply,” she said. The cricket club has called for the offending players to be banned

“We still don’t know if it’s the actual players. The footage shows the players standing around the actual car … we’re not sure about the drivers — this is the problem.”

Palm Beach Police Station officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Leanne Major said police were aware of the incident and said she had left a message for the cricket club.

“No official complaint has been made by the cricket club … at this point in time,” she said.

EARLIER:

The cricket club told the Gold Coast Bulletin it spent about $60,000 putting in a new five-wicket block and the damage is such that the ground may not be available for use for 10 weeks or more. The Palm Beach-Currumbin cricket club is gutted after their new $60,000 cricket wicket was destroyed over the weekend.

“I haven’t seen it personally, but have been sent photos by people,” Palm Beach-Currumbin Cricket Club president Ryan Kettle told the Gold Coast Bulletin yesterday.

“Obviously it doesn’t look great and there seems a fair bit of damage to the pitch.

“It will need work to repair it and that costs money.”

The club shares Salk Oval in alternate seasons with the Palm Beach-Currumbin AFL club, whose members were celebrating their QAFL grand final win against Labrador on Saturday. The turf was torn up badly. Photo from cricket club

PBC football club president Anne Cornish said her club was looking into the matter and would take appropriate action if warranted.

She said she had no idea of what went on during the early hours and who was to blame for the vandalism.

“I do not have any facts or information,” Mrs Cornish said.

“We don’t know whether it was supporters, footballers or whether it was just a random thing.

“We’ll be working with the cricket club but until we know what has gone on there’s not much we can do at this stage.” Damage to Salk Oval cricket wicket. Photo from cricket club

Mr Kettle, who plays first grade for Palm Beach-Currumbin, said the weekend incident was the second similar act of vandalism to the Salk Oval wicket block in about five years.

That incident also involved a car being driven through a boundary fence and on to the wicket. In the historic matter, a scoreboard was also trashed, set on fire in the middle of the wicket.

Mr Kettle said: “I would really like to think it had nothing to do with the football club.”

Another Palm Beach-Currumbin cricket official, treasurer and player Chris Carroll said the new wicket block was “stuffed”.

“There has been a whole lot of hard work gone into the new block but now the whole thing has been cooked,” he said.

“The club has been saving it’s hard to be able to do this so we’d like to see someone man up and to do something about it.”