Vandalism costing Derry thousands!

Seats in Block K of the Southend Park Stand have been deliberately broken twice in only a matter of days with match stewards being verbal abused whilst trying to deal with incidents.

The two separate incidents took place last month, the first at the EA Sports Cup Final against Dundalk on September 14, the second just six days later when the Candy Stripes hosted Bohemians.

Both incidents resulted in the club receiving a repair bill in excess of £3,000 from Derry City and Strabane District Council.

A statement from the club said: “Derry City FC wishes to draw the recent damage to seating in the Southend Park stand to the attention of the club’s supporters.

“Seats mainly in Block K were deliberately broken during the EA Sports Cup final, resulting in the club receiving a repair bill of £2,000.

“No sooner had these been fixed than the area was again the subject of more wanton vandalism during the recent league match with Bohemians.

“Stewards who intervened on both occasions were met with verbal abuse and threats from within Block K.

“The club simply cannot afford to continue in this manner. We are working with our stewards and using CCTV footage to ensure that processes can be put in place to avoid this situation arising again.

“Running a League of Ireland club is an ongoing financial challenge, and it is very frustrating to see that monies paid by supporters, and raised by volunteers, has to be spent to repair damage such as this. Money spent in this way means a direct reduction in the budget available to run the first team and underage teams at the club.

“Those responsible are not supporters of Derry City and we would ask them to stay away from Brandywell Stadium.

“We would also ask our genuine supporters who may be acting as parents/guardians on match nights to know the whereabouts of younger supporters at all times and ask all supporters follow instructions of stewards at all times and remember that standing on seats is not permitted.”