Truck drives through, causes damage to Norwin Soccer Club field

NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. — The Norwin Soccer Club said the fields at the CNX Sports Complex were in near-perfect condition to start the soccer season next weekend. But, early Friday morning, someone drove their truck around the field and left behind massive ruts.

Rob Bauer, a board member for the Norwin Soccer Club, said one word came to mind when he saw the damage.

“It’s pretty devastating, the damage done to that field,” Bauer told Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek.

The club checked the surveillance video from just before 6 a.m. Friday at the CNX Sports complex in Irwin and found a silver Ford F-150 truck tearing up Field 7.

It was going to be used for games this year, as it was in great condition after a year off last year.

“So now that has messed everything up,” Bauer said.

The Norwin Soccer Club has more than 800 kids participating from neighborhoods all around the Irwin, Jeannette, East Allegheny, and McKeesport areas for this fall season.

Now they’ll have to use a different field that saw wear and tear from games last year.

“It’s just disheartening and the time and effort that is put into making a facility that is this nice to have, for kids, to see someone come in and take that away is just so disheartening, almost a little bit disgusting,” Bauer said.

Bauer thinks the repairs will cost between $8,000 to $10,000. It’s money that isn’t in the club’s budget, which relies on registration fees from the soccer players.

They’ve filed a police report and set up a GoFundMe to help pay for repairs and prevent this from happening again.

“Obviously we have a gate at the front that now we will close on a daily basis, and we realize that our cameras caught vehicles coming in, but it’s not a great camera, so that means we now have to improve and enhance our security,” Bauer said.

The Norwin Soccer Club has filed a police report, and Bauer said they are optimistic the person responsible will be caught.

“When people kind of come into a place that’s not theirs, respect people’s property,” Bauer added.

Even though that field is out of commission, the soccer season still starts the weekend of September 9 on the other fields.

If you would like to help, click here to visit the GoFundMe page.

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