A youth football club has suffered “gutting” vandalism in which new hand sanitiser stations have been smashed off the walls.

Volunteers of Workington Reds Juniors have reported acts of vandalism at their ground, The Ranch on Mossbay Road in the town.

Hand sanitisers installed to make activities at the youth football club safe during the Covid-19 pandemic have been smashed by vandals in a mindless attack.

Craig Johnston, a volunteer at the club said: “It’s a bit gutting, we’ve had to spend a lot of money trying to get Covid ready and make it safe.”

Hand sanitising stations have been set up around the ground including on the portacabins.

“These were put in after the last lockdown, we got them installed but they’ve lasted about two months and they’ve just been smashed off the walls. They aren’t cheap, we tried to do it right," he added.

The vandalism is a blow to the club at a difficult time for grassroots football.

“Everybody’s trying their best and at the hardest times anybody’s possibly had," said Mr Johnston. "We’ve got over 300 children from that area that could potentially stop football because of it.”

He explained that coaches have a supply of the hand sanitiser so the club being unable to operate is a worst case scenario.

Malcolm Allison found the damage when tending to the ground on Monday.

He said: “It’s just stopping kids from playing football."

The club recently received a grant from the FA to prepare the ground for the return of play.

Malcolm said: “We’ve had lots of really positive feedback from other coaches.

“Everything was looking the best it’s looked for years and then this happens and you think ‘why do you bother?’”

About 250 young people benefit from football sessions and competition with Workington Reds Juniors.