Vandals Rip Up Katikati Cricket Club Turf Overnight

Katikati Cricket Club is facing hours of costly repair work after vehicles were driven onto Moore Park overnight and used to tear up the shared turf, leaving deep gouges and divots across the entire playing surface. Club president and groundsman Ben Warren arrived early on Saturday morning to prepare for a scheduled match, only to discover the damage wrought by what he described as "pathetic vandals".

The perpetrators are believed to have broken through the bollards at Moore Park and used a ute — with items apparently falling from the tray — to perform doughnuts across the turf. Evidence of skid marks at other locations around Katikati suggests the same boy racers were making a night of it across the town.

Despite the damage, Saturday's match was able to go ahead, with club members and volunteers putting in hours of work to make the ground playable. Warren said the vandalism was especially frustrating given the significant effort that goes into maintaining the grounds, which are shared with Katikati Football Club and serve both the club and the wider community.

Originally published in Katikati News (Sun Media).