‘A kick in the teeth’ 30 netballs stolen from Leighton Buzzard club coach's home
Thirty netballs belonging to a Leighton Buzzard club were stolen from the home of one of its coaches.
Vicki Barton, who coaches at Angels Netball Club, described the theft as ‘a kick in the teeth’ for the club, which has almost doubled its membership in the past year.
Angels Netball Club, which is separate to Leighton Buzzard Netball Club, meets at Vandyke Upper School on Monday nights and has members ranging from Year 8 students to adults.
The balls were stolen just after 5.30pm on Saturday, March 14.
Vicki said: "The netballs are normally kept in my car, but I had moved them into an outside storage area alongside my house.
"My son was at home at the time it happened, and two guys snooped round the property, and took around 30 netballs, as well as a television, which was already broken.
"It is really upsetting for me and all our members, and we don’t understand what the thieves would want to do with them."
The netballs are white, with some pink and grey, and rhino branding.
The balls would typically cost £300 each, while bags would cost £40, and Vicki said it had taken the club a long time to be able to afford them.
Angels Netball Club was established in 2021 by Lian Howlett, who coaches at the club alongside Vicki.
Vicki added: "We are quite a new club, and it has taken us a long time to get where we are. We didn’t have the money for netballs last year, and couldn’t expect our players to fork out the amount needed.
"Last year we added a small cost on to our training fees to enable us to get balls, which meant that we were able to do more drills."
Vicki said she was able to get hold of a few netballs so the club could still go ahead with a session on Monday, March 16.
"We could not do what we would normally do, and had a pure matchplay session, which does not benefit the players in the same way," she said.
"It has been hard, but thankfully our team bibs were not taken.
"It is not easy to get young girls into sport and we are very proud of what we have achieved with Angels - it is all about getting people outside, having exercise and fun, and growing team building skills."
Vicki and Lian have set up a crowdfunding page with the target of raising £500 to replace the stolen netballs, and Vicki said she had received great support from the community since posting on social media about the theft.
"The community have been amazing," she said. "One lady thought they might be in the river, and her family went on a mission on Sunday evening. A lot of people have offered to buy netballs, and we have set up a page where people can donate towards this."
Bedfordshire Police confirmed to the LBO that they had received a report of theft of sports equipment from a residential garden in Leighton Buzzard at around 5.30pm on March 14.
Sergeant Amy Rankin from the Leighton Buzzard community policing team said: “Officers are reviewing doorbell video evidence and conducting patrols in the area for reassurance.
“Crimes like these can have a significant impact as victims can feel violated, and this instance it will have a knock-on effect on the local sports team who used this equipment.
“I would urge anyone with information about the thefts or who has seen netballs for sale to get in contact with police.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact police via the 101 number, quoting the reference 40/14715/26.