BROKEN beer bottles, rubbish and rough sleepers have become such a problem at rugby fields in Wisbech that a call has been made for the area to be regularly checked by community police.

Cambs Times: Broken bottles and rubbish left on the grammar school rugby pitch.Broken bottles and rubbish left on the grammar school rugby pitch. (Image: Archant)

Fields belonging to the town’s rugby club and the Grammar School have become a hot spot for people to drink high strength beers and ciders, leaving behind a trail of destruction that often includes used needles.

Cambs Times: Broken bottles and rubbish left on the grammar school rugby pitch.Broken bottles and rubbish left on the grammar school rugby pitch. (Image: Archant)

Parents at a local primary school urged our newspaper to look at the state of the field after becoming fed up of seeing rough sleepers and mess in what they say is a community area being slowly destroyed.

Cambs Times: Broken bottles and rubbish left on the grammar school rugby pitch.Broken bottles and rubbish left on the grammar school rugby pitch. (Image: Archant)

Sean Etherington, chairman of the Wisbech Rugby Club, said the problem had been getting worse in the last two years so that he now had to carry out weekly rubbish clear-ups before match days.

He said: “I can fill four black bin bags in one hit, if we don’t get it all it could cause a serious injury to one of our players.”

Groups of drinkers congregate around the scrum sheds, sometimes bringing tents, and smashing empty bottles against the goal posts, he said.

Mr Etherington urged anyone who saw drinkers at the field to contact the non emergency 101 number in the hope that if enough complaints were made then police would have to sit up and take notice.

“It needs a regular police presence, but better still it needs an order banning drinking in this area,” he said.

A police spokesman said: “We are aware of the issue and will be directing patrols in that area to prevent anti-social behaviour. We would people to call police to report any incidents.”