Travellers take over football pitches and park more than 20 vehicles after council blunder

More than 20 traveller vehicles have taken over football pitches after the local council contractors failed to secure the gates following pitch maintenance work.

Travellers descended on the grounds of Albion Rovers FC at Kimberley Park in Newport, Gwent.

The initial group of caravans arrived last Wednesday, with further vehicles and occupants turning up over the weekend, showing no signs of leaving.

Newport City Council staff and contractors had removed specialised padlocks from both low and overhead barriers to allow access for works but never replaced them, leaving the site wide open.

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The club, which is marking its 90th anniversary this season, now finds itself unable to use its own facilities and has been plunged into uncertainty.

Albion Rovers has been forced to seek alternative venues for both training sessions and fixtures, paying £110 an hour to hire a 3G pitch at a local school.

Club secretary Sarah Yemm, 44, expressed deep concern for the welfare of players and members, describing the situation at the ground as "too dangerous" given the continuing arrival of caravans.

"It's been really stressful because we've had to cancel all the training, including the seniors," she said.

"Obviously, we wouldn't want the children or the senior players down there training because more and more caravans were coming in. It was too dangerous."

"Obviously, we wouldn't want the children or the senior players down there training because more and more caravans were coming in. It was too dangerous."

Ms Yemm has also been compelled to call off girls' team fixtures and move friendly matches to other locations.

The Welsh Cup is a particular source of anxiety for the club. "It's been worrying me because our first team is in the Welsh Cup, and I've been thinking, 'Where are we going to play?'" Ms Yemm said, noting that most council-owned pitches do not even have goalposts erected.

The occupation has severed a vital income stream for Albion Rovers, which depends on earnings from its clubhouse and pavilion coffee shop to remain financially viable. With travellers encamped across the site, neither facility can operate, leaving the entirely volunteer-run club without its primary source of funding.

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"I've been very clear that all the people at the club are volunteers - we aren't paid members of staff," Ms Yemm said, underlining that nobody at Albion Rovers receives a salary for their work.

The financial strain is compounded by the expense of securing replacement facilities.

The state of the pitch itself remains a serious concern. Ms Yemm described the playing surface as being strewn with bags of rubbish, while human excrement was found in one corner of the ground.

"The pitch is in a terrible mess with bags of rubbish. There's human faeces in one corner," she said. "We don't know if we can play on the pitch. You could smell it, and there was tissues everywhere. We don't know whether it'll be fit for play."

The incursion at Kimberley Park is far from an isolated incident. Travellers have increasingly targeted sports facilities across England and Wales, with several clubs suffering similar disruption in recent months.

At Thetford Town Youth FC in Norfolk, CCTV captured a convoy using an angle grinder to force entry on July 3 before driving repeatedly across match pitches.

The group departed after two days but left behind dirty nappies, cans and a car seat, requiring a full day's clean-up.

Burgess Hill Cricket Club in East Sussex endured a comparable ordeal in June, while Ludgvan Lions Junior Football Club near Penzance in Cornwall was targeted last April.

When asked about Ms Yemm's assertion that council workers bore responsibility for leaving the Kimberley Park gates unsecured, a Newport City Council spokesperson offered a brief reply: "We're still investigating what happened at Kimberley Park."

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