Club cries foul
Players and park users risk injury because of the amount of broken glass and litter being dropped, it has been claimed.
Members of Southwell City Football Club have to spend 45 minutes before matches picking up rubbish from the War Memorial Ground, Southwell.
The club chairman, Mr Colin Abbot, said much of the litter found on Saturday mornings was plastic bags and empty spirit and beer bottles.
He said: “In the past we have arrived at the park and the pitch is practically covered with litter.
“Sometimes they even bury the neck of the bottle into the ground so when the groundsman comes to cut the grass with his mower shards of glass are left everywhere.”
Five black bin bags full of rubbish were collected before one game alone.
Mr Abbot said the top football pitch near the tennis courts was where most of the litter was found.
He said metal bottle tops were particularly hard to pick up and could cause serious injury to players.
Mr Abbot thought part of the problem was because there was not enough litter bins available on the park.
“There is only a small one right at the top of the park. Maybe if larger ones were provided it would alleviate the problem,” he said.
A town councillor, Mr Brendan Haigh, said rubbish had been a problem on the park, off Bishop’s Drive, for several years.
He said: “It seems to be the case that youngsters who use the park on a Friday night leave their rubbish strewn across the grass for others to pick up.
“It is a very well used park and one of the most attractive in Southwell so its a shame this keeps on happening.
“It also a place which is regularly used by children.”
Mr Haigh said the council had been forced to employ extra staff specifically to deal with the extra litter left on the park on Saturday mornings.
The chairman of the council, Mr Graham Ball, said those who dropped the litter were putting people at risk.
He said: “The broken glass is a particular problem and is a danger to people using the park and the people who are good natured enough to pick it up.”