A group of vandals have destroyed a set of community football pitches in Kidbrooke.

Four men in their 20s riding motorbikes and quad bikes destroyed four pitches at Long Lane FC football ground on Dursley Road.

Staff at the club were horrified to see the group of yobs break onto the pitches on May 3 around 7pm, driving across the playing fields and destroying the turf.

Long Lane FC chief executive Mick Northwood estimated the damage will cost the club thousands of pounds to fix.

He said: "We were due to have 29 cup finals next week, you can't imagine the number of people who would have been here but now that's all been cancelled, it's devastating really."

Mr Northwood added the club was relying on future funding to secure its future so they may not survive without it.

He added: "I put it down to mindless vandalism, it's almost as if they've known exactly what they're doing, these were not children but grown men.

"We were told it was local people that did it so I've sent 50 letters round the area, what makes it even harder to take is that they live locally and are your neighbours."

The pitches were improved using money from the London 2012 Olympics legacy and were used by players like Ryan Giggs and Daniel Sturridge of the Team GB men's football team for training.

They are now used by Long Lane FC to provide organised football for hundreds of children in Greenwich.

Admin officer James Cato said: "We run tournaments for under sevens to under 14s, we think we can still run the under sevens and under eights because they play on smaller pitches but we will have to are

Greenwich police officers are investigating the incident.