A RUGBY club has been left out of action after vandals targeted and destroyed six flood lights.

Distressed members of Risca RFC have voiced their concern at vandals causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to six out of eight flood lights on their training field, on Tredegar Terrace.

Colin Wilks, who is the club secretary, said that the damage stands at roughly £15,000 and warned that the club will have no option but to practise elsewhere.

He said: “The damage done to the lights is pretty bad. The cables have been cut right through the middle. I think they'll need replacing.

“From what we’ve been told the damage stands at £15,000.

“It’s also looking like we won’t be able to train on that ground because of the winter nights. How can we train on the ground in the dark?

"In the summer it was fine because of the light nights but not now - that's why we need the flood lights turned on.”

He added: "Not being able to use the ground is now another big worry for us."

The club secretary, who has held the position since 2011, said that team players discovered the damage after training on the ground last week.

“When we got to the field we switched on our flood lights and noticed that only two out of the eight came on.

“When we got closer to look at what was causing the problem you could see that the cables leading up to the control key had been cut and some had been stolen.

“Bits of copper were still on display but other bits had been stolen. It looks as if, who ever has done this, might have been planning on coming back to get the rest of the copper.”

Mr Wilks said that the recent act of vandalism had left the team in “shock”.

“Part of me is lost for words,” said Mr Wilks. “I think shock is probably the best word to sum up how we’re feeling as a club.

“I don’t understand who would want to cause this damage to our club. We have a close relationship with the community so who would want to cause us damage.”

“This incident is nothing but sheer vandalism. I think it's shocking.”

Mr Wilks added that the club is calling for anybody with information to contact the police.

He said: “Please if you have any information contact the police and report what you know.

“We don’t want to go through something like this ever again.

“I hope that whoever has done this gets caught.”

Chief Inspector Rod Grindlay for Gwent Police confirmed that police had received a report of floodlights being damaged on rugby grounds.

He said that if anyone had any information to contact 101 quoting log no 232 of 17/09/17.