Players Armed with Vandalism at Montreal’s Van Horne Park Cricket Ground – Montreal

It seems that some vandals are spoiling the sport in Cte-des-Neiges.

Players from Van Horne Park’s popular cricket field showed up for the match on Tuesday night to find the field’s incisive and much of the top floor.

“Oh, my heart is broken,” said Nagikajah Raveen, one of the cricket teams, president of Vaanavil Sport Club. “I do not know what happened.”

According to him, the points from which the surface layer was removed are slippery, so a $ 65,000 tune by international standards is useless.

“I told the city councilor to say he was doing something,” said Raveen, “but I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

The city councilor is Marvin Rotrand, who said he was surprised by what happened and is doing his best to get answers.

“Well, we hope we know what happened,” he told the park’s Global News. “It looks like there was some vandalism. We don’t know who did it and why, but it really affects many people. “

He and Raveen pointed out that the place is popular, and as COVID restrictions are eased, players have gone almost daily, but they have been using it even before the pandemic.

“Oh, almost two years now,” Raveen stated.

The camp opened in August 2019. Montreal city officials say there is a growing demand for cricket pitches in the community, reflecting demographic change.

According to Rotrand, the popularity is primarily among residents with roots in other parts of the British Commonwealth, such as the countries of South East Asia or the West Indies. There will also be many fans from the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

“It comes as a surprise to many when they learn that one of Snowdon’s fastest-growing sports through the Cte-des-Neiges, just west of the city and, in fact, across Montreal, is cricket,” Rotrand said.

3:54A new cricket facility is planned in Northeast Calgary

He added that even more pitches are required and cricket officials say there are more than 50 teams in two leagues in Montreal.

Rotrand does not speculate as to why anyone would destroy the playing surface, but he said he reported it to police.

“I would like to rule this out of hate crime,” he said. “I’m not saying it is, but we’d like to find out what happened.”

He stressed that the focus is now on trying to find a temporary solution, as field replacement materials can be difficult to obtain.