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Heartbroken volunteers from Todmorden Junior Football Club say they are devastated after one of their pitches was vandalised.

Their pitch at Walsden Rec has been left badly scarred by tyre tracks and rendered unusable after quad bikes were driven over it.

Louise Leeming, welfare officer for the club, said: "They've completely trashed it, you can't play on it.

"The council spent an absolute fortune repairing it and they've just destroyed it.

Tod FC players, parents and coaches angry after their pitch has been wrecked by vandals

"It's the older age groups who play on it but we're now going to have to find somewhere else for them to play, and we really struggle for pitches.

"We have a huge challenge securing safe sites for our teams to play on and are currently split across five locations.”

Louise says there has never been any vandalism of this nature before affecting the club.

"I'm really disappointed because we're a volunteer organisation, we all work full-time and put so much time and effort into getting the kids to play football, which they love," she said.

"We have 300 kids, girls teams, boys teams and mixed teams, we're all parents of children that play and the managers go out and mow the grass, they line it up before games.

"So to have this happen after it's taken so long to get one of the pitches back to the condition it should be in it's just heartbreaking.

"We're just disappointed and angry - why would somebody do that? It's mindless and shows a complete disregard for the fact it's used, not only by the football club, but local kids to play on."

On how much the club estimate it might cost to repair the pitch, Louise said: "That's whether the council can afford to do it, it's just a budget than you can find easily.

"It's going to have to be all reseeded and raked, go back to basics.

"The goals at each end are just like swamps, there's no grass on there anymore, it's just mud."

In a statement, West Yorkshire Police said: "At 2.27pm on Tuesday, November 1, police received a report of an incident of criminal damage after a quad bike has driven on grassed area used as a football pitch, off Scott Street, Walsden.

"The incident is thought to have occurred in the evening of Sunday, October 30.

"Enquiries are ongoing."

Junior football club in Todmorden left heartbroken after pitch is vandalised