THE Swan Bowling Club’s bowling green was vandalised on Wednesday, September 30, leaving tyre marks and gouges on the grass ahead of the beginning of the season.

Swan Bowling Club president Milton Rendell said the vandalism could not have come at a worse time.

“Just right when pennants will start and the lawn would be used in the next couple of weeks – they’ve obviously done considerable amount of damage in a very short period of time,” he said.

“This is a lot of work for our greenskeeper as well.

“If it gets to that level where it’s any worse, then potentially we’ll need to take the green out of play and go through a renovation process which then is thousands of dollars of extra cost to the club.”

All Turf Maintenance greenskeeper Ryan Carey, who is the contract greenskeeper for the club, said as the greens were organic they introduced a level of unpredictability.

“We’re dealing with mother nature so that flow and effect will last for a fair while,” he said.

“Some of the grass hasn’t finished dying yet so the damage is only starting to show up now and in two weeks’ time, it could look a lot worse.

“It’s really disappointing because it’s not as if concrete’s been damaged and you can cut that out and get it replaced.

“You just don’t have that luxury here and it’s just ongoing maintenance for weeks now until it eventually recovers with the new growth, so it’s definitely incorporated extra works to get it back up to how it was.”

Mr Rendell said the club has a rich history in the community with families that has seen generations of Guildford players walk through the door.

“We’re lucky we have really good members and they’ve been here a long, long time,” he said.

“They’re the people who get disappointed and I feel for them.

“It’s as simple as anyone wanting their own place to play their sport.

“Some guys have been here for half their lives so for them it’s like a stab in the heart, really.”

Mr Rendell said a report had been made to the police and that he hopes the perpetrators would be made accountable.

“We’re not just a bowling club, we’re part of the community and an important part,” he said.

“We’re not just something you can go around and stuff up whenever you choose to.”

A Midland Police spokesperson said they wanted to remind the community criminal damage is a serious offence that would not be tolerated.

“Acts of vandalism and antisocial behaviour can cause significant disruption to the community, resulting in costly repairs and impacting local residents, sporting groups, and community organisations,” they said.

“Police take incidents such as this seriously and remain committed to identifying offenders.”

Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident, has CCTV, dash-cam or mobile phone vision, to contact Crime Stoppers online at or call 1800 333 000.

Reports can be made anonymously.