Wild boar damage Whitecroft football pitch

By rharris

WHITECROFT Football Club has had to relay part of its pitch, after wild boar left one of the penalty boxes badly rutted.

The club re-laid 65m square of turf this week, across a strip of ground close to one of the 18-yard boxes.

They were forced to cancel last Saturday's second-team match with Mushet and Coalway Reserves because of the damage.

Club spokesman Nick Creed said: "The league secretary told me he'd never heard of a match being cancelled because of boar before.

"It was cut up quite badly. We haven't seen them on the pitch, but one Saturday night we saw one at the club gates.

"To be honest, our pitch gets very wet so we'd probably have cancelled the game anyway.

"It's an inconvenience and an expense though. We just hope they don't come back."

Nick believes the boar may have got in through a hole in the fence that has now been repaired.

Groundsman Roland Elsmore, who has looked after the pitch for many years and lives close to the ground, said: "It was definitely boar that caused the damage. They're around this area because I saw eight of them while I was walking my dog in the woods."

Whitecroft Football Club was originally going to stage one of the West Dean Charities' Cup semi-finals this Sunday, but pulled out because of the problems with the pitch.

The first-team is hoping the ground will be OK to use this Saturday for their North Gloucestershire Division One match with English Bicknor.