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GYPSY PLAGUE RETURNS ‘If this was me or you, we’d be locked up...’ Shaw Cross rugby chairman Mick Turner
Rugby dugouts used as toilets after club official ‘knocked out of way’ by vehicle By Staff Reporters GYPSIES who have taken over fields in Shaw Cross have been accused of ramming a man with their vehicle to get access to the site. Officials at Shaw Cross Sharks rugby club have since found the dugouts on their main field have been used as toilets and their plans for a host of Bank Holiday weekend finals have been disrupted by the dozen or so gypsy families. Rugby club chairman Mick Turner has revealed that the gypsies – described by police as being
The gypsy encampment on Shaw Cross playing fields this week
from southern Ireland – had driven over the main Leeds Road pavement in order to avoid large boulders placed by Kirklees Council to deter illegal entry by travellers. “The rugby club’s junior chairman, Paul Sutcliffe, saw them coming on Monday night and tried to block them,” said Mr Turner, owner of the Ravensport sportswear firm in Earlsheaton. “They just used their vehicle to knock him out of the way. Obviously he was shocked, but he’s otherwise alright.” Mr Turner said: “If that was me or you, we’d be locked up. The police have just said that because
we have no rugby matches this weekend there’s nothing they can do.” However the Sharks’ A team’s preparations for their Jim Brown Cup final last night at the Tetley’s Stadium, were thrown into disarray. Bank Holiday Monday sees a host of junior finals at Batley’s Mount Pleasant ground, but the Shaw Cross youngsters haven’t been able to use their fields. “We daren’t,” added Mr Turner. “It isn’t safe for the children. When gypsies took over the fields previously their kids were disrupting our young people, and there was
abuse being hurled at everyone. They were throwing objects at our club members. “Kirklees had to bring in chemical waste teams to clean the site up afterwards – they’d used the fields as an open sewer. How much does this cost the taxpayer? But Kirklees don’t seem to be able to do anything about it.” Mr Turner said that the gypsies only left last time when they got tired of their caravans being hit by rugby balls, as the senior players insisted on going back to training. He said that when club officials met police at the site this week they
were warned not to look in the dugouts, which were littered with human excrement. At a meeting with the families on Tuesday evening the gypsies said they were only staying two days, but were showing no signs of moving by Thursday night. Mr Turner said: “If these people just came and stayed for a couple of days and tried to be reasonable, you wouldn’t mind. “But they are like animals. They have no respect for other people’s property and seem to go out of their way to cause trouble with local people.”
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