LARGE shards of glass deliberately embedded in Cross Hills' football pitch could have caused serious injuries to the players, the club's chairman has warned.

Barry Pearce painstakingly picked out a bucketful of broken glass from the pitch on Friday morning and took the evidence to the local police station.

He found the damage the day before the players were due to take on Bronte Wanderers at home and he said that it was only luck that he found the glass before someone was injured.

This is not the first time the Glusburn-based club has been targeted by vandals.

"We had this problem a couple of seasons ago, with bottles smashed on the pitch, and somebody smoking cannabis," he said.

"We told the police and they patrolled there on a regular basis and we offered a reward for information."

He said that a couple of perpetrators had been apprehended and the problem had stopped for a while, but seemed to be starting up again.

"We found all this broken glass on the pitch on Friday, when I went down to mark the pitch out for the game. There were also hundreds of stones thrown onto the pitch, and the glass was stamped into the ground.

"We spent a couple of hours just getting every piece we could find. We think we more or less got everything, but you never know."

Mr Pearce said he wanted something done about this "mindless vandalism", which could have had serious consequences.

"I want something doing about it. The police promised to patrol the ground on a regular basis and they need to show a police presence down there. It is a private ground but we can't be down there all the time.

"It seems to be young teenagers gathering - we regularly pick up empty beer cans. I just hope the problem doesn't escalate.

"If the police could show their faces sometimes, they will know there is someone coming round on a regular basis and that will probably deter them from going down.

"When it comes down to shards of glass you are talking serious injuries, really serious injuries. Somebody could have fallen, severed an artery and bled to death," he added.

Chief Inspector Nick Smedley told the Herald: "This is obviously a highly dangerous thing to do.

"Now that the police are aware of it, we will try to get the patrols down there more often to keep an eye out.

"With all the will in the world, we can't be there all the time, so we would ask anyone who has any knowledge or who has seen anything suspicious in the course of that week to let us know.

"We would also ask in the future if they see anyone hanging around, or strange vehicles outside there, to call us."

Anyone with information should ring Cross Hills police on 01756 793377 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.