A JUNIOR football club has fallen victim to a suspected arson attack – less than a year after its clubhouse was first hit by a blaze.
Billingham Juniors was still counting the cost of the devastating impact after the first fire had in June last year but were dealt a further blow when their facility went up in flames last week.
The club is home to 170 youngsters but has now been left homeless, with the clubhouse reduced to ashes. What is left of the building poses a threat to people’s safety.
“The building is just collapsing around us,” the club’s chairman, Lee Shackleton said. “While I was there the other night the wall was falling down. It’s just so unsafe.”
Cleveland Fire Brigade said firefighters were called at around 10pm on Saturday, April 23, but said there was no sign of forced entry at the clubhouse building on Wolviston Back Lane. An investigation is underway.
The community rallied to raise £11,000 for restoration works at the clubhouse after last year’s fire – but that money is yet to be spent. Mr Shackleton admitted the rebuild would now have to start from scratch after the latest fire.
The alleged arson has also seen the club’s equipment damaged beyond repair, with basic equipment such as footballs, bibs and cones having to be sourced from elsewhere.
Mr Shackleton now admits of an anxiety around the site’s safety in the future since it has been targeted twice.
He said: “It’s now the worry of being able to store anything on the site. All the basics we must provide, from as little as a football, are at risk of being burnt.
“Goodness will come from this, as we have seen with the positive comments and donations.
"My drive is: don’t beat us, but right now I’m struggling for the motivation. If I put another building there it could get burnt down again."
Billingham Juniors continue to play, however, and relocated to the Village Ground to play their matches last weekend. “I’ve arranged for a group to train somewhere else but we’ve got no footballs,” Mr Shackleton added.
“The amount of good, grassroots sports clubs that are around is fantastic but they won’t be around if people keep doing this to them.
“It means something to a lot of people and that will rise and re-motivate my game – but right now it’s a struggle. “
Donations to the fundraiser can be made here.
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