Hundreds of Brentwood youngsters have watched their dreams of soccer stardom going up in smoke after heartless thugs torched their clubhouse.

The arson attack on the Sawyers Hall Lane headquarters of Great Danes Football Club at lunchtime last Tuesday left the clubhouse a smouldering wreck.

Thousands of pounds worth of goal posts, nets and pitch tending equipment, were destroyed.

Frantic efforts are now being made to have the remaining home games of the club's dozens of teams transferred to the grounds of the opposing sides.

The club has more than 200 local youngsters on its books and is run solely by volunteer dads.

Now the club is facing a bill of up to £15,000 to rebuild the clubhouse and replace the damaged equipment, leaving it no choice but to appeal to the local community for help.

Fixtures secretary Derek Cornish said: "It is absolutely despicable that somebody could do this. It's so anti-social.

The saddest thing is that there are 200 local children who may not be able to play for however long it takes to sort this out, which is a great shame.

"We just don't have any spare cash. Our fund raising just about covers match fees and the £60 a year subs the kids pay goes towards paying the rent for the ground and the training pitch and the league fees.

"This really is going to make things extremely difficult for us. We are just hoping that there are helpful people around Brentwood prepared to help us through this."

Any businesses, organisations or individuals who can help the club with the funding it requires can call Derek on 01277 225586.

It took crews from Brentwood Fire Station two hours to bring the blaze under control.

Brentwood Police have now confirmed that the blaze is being treated as arson, and have appealed for help tracking down the suspects.

Sgt Harry Ruston said: "Three youths wearing school uniforms were seen in the area.

"They left the scene and smoke was seen rising from the building shortly afterwards.

"If anyone has any information, they should contact us immediately."

Dream lost: Derek Cornish and the Great Danes FC U8s squad look forward to an uncertain future outside the gutted clubhouse.

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