Thieves target junior club

By Alison Noonan
LYNBROOK junior cricketers will be forced to beg and borrow to start the 2006 season after vital playing equipment was stolen just days before Christmas.
Members of the fledgling club have vowed to battle on despite losing all under 13 and under 11 gear, including cricket bats, balls, pads and gloves, and one senior cricket kit, when thieves broke in to the sports pavilion at Banjo Patterson Reserve some time between 22 and 23 December.
About 1000 cans of soft drink and 200 sausages, which had been set aside for future fundraisers, were also taken.
Club president Steve McPhail said the young players were devastated by the theft after enjoying success since the club was established at the start of the 2005/06 season.
Mr McPhail said the club supplied all 30 juniors with playing equipment to ease the hefty financial burden on parents.
“We buy kits for them to use because equipment is so expensive,” he said.
“Bats are priced at about $100 each. Now we’ve lost everything. It’s a terrible thing to do before Christmas.
“It’s the kids who will suffer from this,” Mr McPhail said.
However, he said the setback would not get the club down and he promised the club would be ready for the first game back in two weeks.
“We were going really well before Christmas and had received a great deal of community support in our first year.
“The whole community suffers from something like this.
“But the kids will still turn up Friday week for the first game back. We will make sure we don’t cancel,” he said.
Mr McPhail said the kids would have to borrow equipment from senior players, friends and family or even rival clubs to start the new year.
“We’ll fight on. This will not take away from any games or stop the club going from strength to strength.
“It just means we may have 30 kids who will have to share a couple of bats and wear pads that are too big for them,” he said.
“This experience will band the club together and make us a bit more resilient.”
Club vice president and parent Peter Dodgson said he was furious that adults would resort to stealing children’s sporting equipment.
“There wasn’t much in there to start with and they chose to take the kids stuff.
“We only just got up and running and had invested a lot of money into the club. Now half of that has been taken. It’s very disappointing,” he said.
Senior Detective at Cranbourne Criminal Investigation Unit Mark Weiderhold appealed for any witnesses to come forward to police.
“If anyone saw or heard anything or is approached to buy cheap junior cricket equipment we would ask them to contact police,” he said.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Cranbourne CIU on 5995 4577.