Paul Wylie hopes there’s a backyard somewhere in Rotorua that has a nice cricket pitch or hockey turf made out of stolen artificial grass that’s bringing joy to kids.  

“Because if this is just for s****s and giggles, I would be really mad.”  

The Rotorua Cricket Association chairman is fed up after discovering another strip of green turf has been removed from the organisation’s cricket nets at Boord Park, near the Devon St roadside. 

Rotorua Cricket Association chairman Paul Wylie is annoyed the cricket nets have been vandalised again. Photo / Andrew Warner 

Wylie said he had lost count of how many times they had been hit by thieves or vandals over the years, but the latest act was following a bizarre trend of green turf cut, ripped up and stolen.  

The large chunk was noticed missing at the start of this week. Thieves had made two lanes unusable after cutting a big piece of fabric net off one lane to gain entry and cut up the turf on another.  

Wylie said he had no idea what purpose strips of turf served to someone else - but for his club, it meant up to $4000 in damage each time.  

He said the turf was new after replacing it last year following three other turf thefts. 

Rotorua Cricket chairman Paul Wylie says this type of ongoing damage puts the viability of the sport into question. Photo / Supplied 

“But the overall vandalism has gone on for years now ... it’s fairly constant.” 

He estimated they had been hit about 10 times. 

Trail bike riders ripping up the Boord Park grounds is another issue that has been plaguing the club. 

“All the Lakelands Championship teams had to play on artificial wickets because of the damage caused by the motorbikes on the grass wickets.” 

The fields come under the Rotorua Lakes Council but the nets are the responsibility of the club. 

Rotorua Cricket Association chairman Paul Wylie is annoyed the cricket nets have been vandalised again. Photo / Andrew Warner 

Wylie said they used to have a metal cage - making it harder for the thieves to get inside - but the metal significantly damaged the cricket balls when they hit the sides. The club’s board would now discuss what it would do. 

Each time they had to fix something, it came from the budget for future junior cricket programmes. 

“Instead of spending money on our juniors, we’re having to repair our facilities.” 

The vandalism was impacting at least 200 players across the senior and junior teams. 

Council infrastructure and environment group manager Stavros Michael said the council wasn’t aware of any other reports of turf thefts from other council properties. 

“In the past, we have had some issues with vandalism. Like other councils, we have ongoing issues with random vandalism. Sports field vandalism typically involves vehicle damage and we have been working on reducing vehicle access to our reserves.” 

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues. 

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.