By Marcus Uhe
The Casey Comets Football Club has been left devastated after their facilities were broken into over the weekend of Sunday 20 February.
Electronics including laptops and televisions were stolen and damaged, while significant items of memorabilia were trashed and the facilities, including change rooms, fences and the pitch, suffered significant damage, including holes put in the wall.
Comets’ president Dawn Stone said the club’s hardworking volunteers were heartbroken.
“It’s a pretty demoralising thing to go through after the last two years,” Ms Stone said.
“We’re trying to rebuild a community service and then this has happened to us.
“The club has been so impacted by lockdowns. We’re literally rebuilding.
“The financial impact has been massive and it’s a cost that the club at the moment is not able to fund.”
Ms Stone described walking through ‘ankle-deep’ broken glass in the kitchen the day after the attack as she struggled to comprehend the callousness of the offenders.
An extension to the function room at the club, which bore the brunt of the attack, was completed in recent years but the Comets had been unable to utilise it due to lockdowns.
The club has been damaged like this multiple times since Christmas, according to Ms Stone, and it’s beginning to take a toll on the club members and its community.
“It’s not so much the costs that upset me but it’s the wilful damage. It’s so hard to not take it personally.
“We’re (volunteers) putting in our own finances. We’ve lost sponsorships over the years and we’ve not had 20 per cent of our own income in the past couple of years.
“The people who did this don’t realise the human costs of their decisions.”
The Casey Crime Investigation Unit is investigating a burglary.
“Detectives are working to establish what property was stolen and the investigation is ongoing,“ police said.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a report at crimestoppersvic.com.au
