A Kansas City, Mo., soccer league is fed up with repeated vandalism at Hodge Park Athletic Fields where they play.
According to Fox 4, people have been driving on the fields where La Liga Youth League plays, leaving the pitches riddled with tire tracks, some deep enough to put an adult's foot inside.
“It stinks. It stinks bad!” Marcela Munoz, league manager, lamented.
La Liga rents the fields from the Kansas City Department of Parks and Recreation, and almost 400 kids play in the soccer league.
“If you’re not playing on an even playing surface, there is so much that can go wrong — torn ACLs, ankles,” Munoz explained. “We can’t do much on our own because it isn’t our property.”
John Aust, whose two children play in La Liga, was also a former Parks and Rec employee. He said vandalism of the fields has been program from a long time.
“It’s always been a great space,” Aust said Tuesday. “There’s no reason that it shouldn’t be, especially after 20 years of ongoing issues. It’s definitely something that is correctable. It can be corrected.”
Police told Fox 4 they're tired of tending to the issue, with incidents mostly occurring at night. While the park gates are locked, the vandals have repeatedly cut them off.
A local landscape company has offered to help La Liga by working on the soccer fields.
