This afternoon we had a serious intrusion of nearly 50 teenagers, boys and girls, onto our astro pitch. In order to gain access to the astro, they opened a gate on our 7 a-side pitch, made their way along the area behind the astro and then forced open a fence to enter our astro. Some brought their bikes onto the pitch.
When we got a call from a club-member that a full blown match with spectators was going on, two members of our executive committee went up to the club to investigate. When we arrived in separate cars we could see the numbers present. We called the police at that time and they arrived up within 3/4 minutes. Upon our arrival the match finished up and teenagers headed off in various directions but a lot had to come back around to the dressing room area as their bikes were there. As they passed us, we told them they were not allowed on the astro as it was private property. We also told them we had cctv footage of them.
At this point the guards arrived and questioned the departing teenagers. Interestingly the majority of the intruders were from Celbridge and some from Newcastle. There were teenagers from Leixlip in Leixlip Utd gear I am told by other people who saw them on the pitch and in the amenities carpark. We did not see anybody we recognized from Leixlip Utd but we did see some lads running away towards the canal in what could have been our gear. It is hardly likely that a large group of teenagers from Celbridge and Newcastle decided of their own volition to come over to our astro without some communication from their friends in Leixlip. We have had numerous incidents of intrusions onto our pitches and before today just a quick word was enough and everyone left quickly and there were no arguments. We did have a couple of incidents where vandalism took place and we chose not to involve the police.
Today however was a very different situation; it was made very clear to us by their comments and tone that they were quite indifferent to our suggestions that they illegally entered our astro and were filmed by our cctv. One young budding solicitor informed me that because they were minors we could not use the cctv film. I have been informed she is incorrect so probably best if she goes into a different profession. As I said the vast majority of the teenagers were from outside Leixlip but to the few local teenagers who for whatever reason invited their friends over to play on our astro, please refrain from doing so in the future.
In the event that we do identify any Leixlip Utd players who were involved today, the club will take a very dim view of it and expulsion will be a consideration. It looks like we are close to the end of this massive lockdown and we can look forward to safely returning to all sporting activities shortly so let's not start breaking the rules at this stage. Ironically enough we had spent Friday night and Saturday cleaning and painting the club in preparation for football's return and we now have to spend next week repairing the damage done today.
Paul Martin, Chairman
