OLIVEBANK Stadium, the home of Musselburgh Athletic Football Club, is suffering from a rise in minor damage and littering.

Teenage boys are thought to be causing the problems, which include damage to wooden fencing, graffiti and anti-social behaviour.

Karl Cleghorn, the club’s president, said: “Musselburgh Athletic FC is a community club and we have recently ‘let’ our facilities to three small local groups in a concerted effort to provide a safe and appropriate environment for others to make good use of.

“These types of incidents cause concern for visitors and users at the stadium.

“Musselburgh Area Partnership and East Lothian Council, among others, have given us financial and other support to enable Olivebank to be a safe and secure place for small groups to use and this type of behaviour can be quite off-putting for all.”

He added: “We have installed a new CCTV system at the ground and all incidents are recorded and, when appropriate, local police have been informed.

“However, this type of infuriating, unnecessary and now more regular type of behaviour from what appears to be a minority of young boys is now becoming a more frequent occurrence.

“There is a financial cost to the club and also the worry that one of these young people will get injured or cause some real damage to the facilities.

“We have a policy of trying to engage in a non-confrontational manner with youngsters that we find within the stadium or who are climbing fences, for we hope that they may become the players and supporters of the club and community groups in the future.”