ATTEMPTS to climb onto the roof and break into a rugby club’s clubhouse have been passed on to police.

The anti-social behaviour in Neilson Park was highlighted at recent community meetings.

Now, Haddington RFC has warned youngsters that it will pass on CCTV footage of any damage to Knox Academy and local police officers.

Keith Wallace, president of the rugby club, said: “It has been going on largely through lockdown.

“A lot of young kids are gathering at the club, which we don’t mind if there is not any damage.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of incidents of smashing glass when we have got young kids then coming along to play rugby.

“We have had people on the roof and trying to break in and a lot of anti-social behaviour.

“We have increased the CCTV and had a lot of co-operation from community police and the school.”

The rugby club has not been able to play a competitive fixture in more than a year due to coronavirus restrictions.

At the same time, the various restrictions have impacted upon the club’s ability to hold functions in the clubhouse.

Mr Wallace said that often meant there were no people in the building, and they needed anyone witnessing vandalism or anti-social behaviour at the clubhouse to get in touch with the police.

The club posted on its website that it was now able to capture “clear images from all parts of the clubhouse”, which could be passed to the town’s secondary school to help identify those responsible before then going on to the police.

To date, this has resulted in “a number of offenders and their parents being spoken to by the police and appropriate action taken”.

Mr Wallace said that the number of incidents had dropped for a spell before the end of the year but the issue had flared up again.

He stressed that any repairs had to be paid for by the club, which only added to the “frustration” at a time when the club was not “operational”.

A spokesman for the club added: “We would also like to thank club members and members of the public who have alerted us to these acts of vandalism and anti-social behaviour, either at the time or in seeing the resultant damage or debris on or around the club, and would ask that this continues.

“If you are a witness to any of this activity then please contact Keith Wallace at president@haddingtonrfc.co.uk with a note of what you have seen and, ideally, the time and the date (this makes it easier tracking on our CCTV recordings); if you deem it urgent, please contact the police directly.

“We can then follow up as required.”