Footballers blamed for leaving Reading park in a muddy mess

Photos show the ground being left in a state at Cintra Park near the university area of Reading.

According to a neighbour, the ground was left that way after people attended weekend football matches at the site.

Raising alarm about the state of the park, Oliver Butler said: "Why is Reading Borough Council allowing Cintra Park to be ruined by overuse for football and football parking?

"The park literally gets no rest now and football is being prioritised over every other use. This is abuse of a public space - Stop it!"

The photos of Cintra Park were taken on a Saturday, March 19.

Young footballers are allowed to use the ground of the park for matches, with parents and guardians having permission to park their cars on the ground as well.

Cintra Park left in a muddy mess after it was used for car parking during a junior football match. Credit: UGC (Image: UGC)

Councillor David McElroy (Green, Redlands), who represents the area, said: "I've received an outpouring of sadness, anger and disappointment from many residents saying that football vehicles were responsible for turning Cintra Park into a mud bath.

"In my opinion this behaviour would clearly violate those users' terms of vehicular access to the park and so have encouraged the council to take a zero tolerance approach to such negligence.

"Personally I'm really frustrated by the damage, having warned multiple times that this outcome was a matter of when, not if. Surely the council will review its policies accordingly."

Although the footballers and their parents have been blamed for churning up part of the field, they have permission to use the field for vehicle parking from Reading Borough Council.

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A spokesperson for the council confirmed the field can be used for parking purposes, but following the incident a month's long 'fallow' period has been implemented to allow the ground to recover.

The spokesperson said: “Cintra Park has historically been used for sports for many years and the Berkshire Youth Development League use this ground on Saturday mornings.

“During these sessions, part of the park is used for parking to reduce the impact on local side roads.

“The league usually carefully assess the ground before matches to both protect the football pitches and also to determine whether the ground is capable of being parked on without damage.

“On this occasion, unfortunately the assessment was mistaken, with heavy rain during the morning exacerbating the problem further and leading to damage to the parkland.

“As a result, we have prohibited parking in this area to enable the ground to recover for at least the rest of the season, giving it at least five months undisturbed, and we are reviewing with the league how a repeat of this situation can be prevented in future before the park is used for this purpose again.”

Berkshire Youth Development League is run by the Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Football Association, which has been contacted for comment.

Cintra Park can be accessed from Whitley Park Lane and Cintra Avenue.