Vandals deface Leicester community football club stands

Nirvana FC prides itself on building a space for the community but has been left frustrated.

Nirvana FC's spectator stands were covered in spray paint after vandals snuck into the fenced-off area in Hamilton Park, overnight.

A community-led football club has been left "disheartened" after vandals covered its spectator stands in spray paint. Nirvana FC's seats at its base, in Hamilton, were covered in graffiti including homophobic slurs and profanities on Wednesday night (August 10).

It is believed vandals entered the fenced-off facilities, which are regularly used by children, at around 9.45pm, according to the club. Leicestershire Police said it was increasing patrols in the area following the incident.

The club prides itself on being a community space in an area of the city which it said had very few such spaces to offer, and has been dismayed by the actions of "mindless vandals". Trustee Ivan Liburd said a lot of time and effort had been invested in the club.

He told LeicestershireLive: "It's quite frustrating because we're trying to build something for the community to use. There's hardly anything to do in Hamilton - there's a library and there's us.

"We just want the community to work with us. This is really disheartening when we put some much time and effort into this place."

The club prides itself on being a space for the community.

He added that the culprits would have had to make a significant effort to walk through an area of undergrowth in order to access the area. Mr Liburd said this was the second act of vandalism at the site in the last three weeks.

"We've had some damage to our dugout area as well. We don't usually get graffiti but what we do have is a regular issue with motorcycles being ridden on the park and ruining it," he added.

Leicester City Council's parks team, which maintains Hamilton Park but does not own the club facilities, arranged for the graffiti to be removed due to the offensive language it included.

A spokesperson for the police said: "Officers from the East Leicester Neighbourhood Policing Area (NPA) are aware of the report as well as further reports of motorcycles being ridden in an anti-social manner around the Hamilton area. The NPA will be speaking to the person who made the report yesterday and are carrying out increased patrols."