GANGS of drunken yobs are plaguing Blackrod Cricket Club.

Groups of up to 20 teenagers, aged between 13 and 16, are using the club's grounds at Vicarage Road as a place to meet and host drunken parties.

Club secretary Ivan Catterall said he has had to regularly clean up bottles, cans and other rubbish that has been dumped in the evenings.

He has also had to scrub graffiti from the walls and face verbal abuse from the group.

"We are not happy at all. It never stops and when you tell them to move on they swear at you," said Mr Catterall.

He said vandalism and burglaries had plagued the club since it was established 25 years ago.

"The cost to the club in repairs, security, and insurance runs into thousands of pounds," he said.

"Every night we are open I go up there and I am moving on kids who are drinking.

"There are bottles everywhere, rubbish and sometimes broken windows. It's ridiculous.

"They mess around in front of the club and we don't want them there when our members come in. It's very frustrating."

Mr Catterall, who believes vandalism has got worse since a ban was introduced on the consumption of alcohol on the highway, says the ideal solution would be to fence the whole club off but that would cost far too much.

A spokesman for Horwich police said that they took anti-social behaviour very seriously but that they had had no logged complaints from the club this year, and had received only two complaints last year. He said a Police Community Support Officer had now been drafted in to do regular patrols in the Blackrod area to address community concerns about anti-social behaviour.

Blackrod Village Association and the town council are currently discussing plans to build a skatepark as part of a larger youth zone.

Spare land at Blackrod Football Club, off Half Acre Lane, has been earmarked as the best place for new youth facilities. They could include a skateboard and BMX park and a shelter for youngsters.