A Bolton football club, the oldest in Lancashire, has been targeted by 'lowlife' vandals. 

The vandalism took place at Turton FC's football pitch off Thomason Fold in Edgworth, where 'No Parking' was spray painted onto the pitch.

Volunteers noticed the damaged on Tuesday, September 12, to carry out preparations for the next match. 

The club posted a statement saying: "Thanks to the low life(s) that have vandalised our pitch. The volunteers that work so hard are very grateful."

Club chairman, Peter Gray, said: "We initially saw something on the pitch on Friday, but we couldn't make out what had happened or what it was.

"Someone went back up on Tuesday to do midweek work before the weekend, obviously it had been finished off and we could see what it said.

"It is frustrating, we are small, and we have a committee which decides how we spend the money that we raise, and we have to look after the pitch.

"It could have been worse, the pitch is playable, but it is just upsetting to our volunteers and does not look very good at the level of football we play at."

Founded in 1871, Turton FC are the oldest football club in Lancashire. It was one of the founding members of the Lancashire Football Association (FA), which predates the English FA.

They formerly played at the oldest football pitches still in use in the world, on Tower Steeet in Chapeltown, although the ground is now occupied by Old Boltonians AFC.

Mr Gray continued: "You don't just pass the pitch, you have to make an effort to get there. It has shocked us, because you wouldn't expect it of people around here. I appreciate that parking can be a bit much for residents on match days.

"We have made effort to meet with local residents, and we pay someone to put cones out on matchdays. It gets busy on the bigger matchdays, and if I lived there it would probably annoy me too.

"But, if someone is frustrated, contacts can be found on our website, they can speak to us on match days, we are approachable, professional people.

"If someone has an issue, please speak to us, don't vandalise our property."

Turton FC's committee is yet to meet, but Mr Gray says CCTV up around the ground is now an option.

He added: "We have had a resident of Thomason Fold contact us, saying they have a camera which faces onto the pitch.

"We will have to look at that to see if we can see anyone heading onto the pitch with spray paint, that sort of thing. We have also reported it to the police."