A youth football chairman has slammed the "mindless vandals" who broke down fencing and ruined club pitches with a 4x4.

Lordswood Tigers FC have had to cancel matches and training sessions after players turned up on Saturday morning to find their pitches, near Lordswood Leisure Centre, torn up and covered in tyre tracks.

Club chairman Cameron Mckenzie said the attack happened after steps were taken to block quad bikes, which had entered the ground previously from nearby countryside.

"The council agreed to put tree trunks across the entrance from the woods," he said. "It looks like they thought 'they've done that so we'll smash the fence down.'

"They've smashed their way in and done lots of donuts and wheel spins. Some of the ruts are 4-6 inches deep.

"I've got to say it's absolutely gutting," he added. "Everybody who works here is a volunteer. My groundsman spent a lot of time in the summer reseeding the ground and getting topsoil down. It's been smashed to oblivion.

"It's gutting for everybody."

But he said requests for help had already been answered, with local business and members from Lordswood and other football clubs offering to lend a hand in the restoration project.

Club members were due to meet this Saturday to begin the hard work, and Chatham MP Tracey Crouch had also agreed to visit.

Mr Mckenzie added: "What I would like to do is find the mindless idiots who did this and ask them 'why?'

"They've had two minutes of fun spinning across our football pitches and it could have cost us hundreds of pounds."

Donna Docherty, whose son Dean plays for the club, said: "I think it's awful that someone could do this and ruin it for the boys.

"It's inconsiderate - they don't realise the domino effect it has on other people."