MUDDY, cold and tired and with nowhere to go.
After rugby, these young players could not have a shower or use the toilet.
The doors of their headquarters at the DRAM (Dalton Rawthorpe and Moldgreen) community centre have been locked and the coach has been told he can’t come in.
Moldgreen Rugby Club coach Brian Tracey said: “It is impacting on the club in a big way.
“We’ve got more than 100 kids and over the last couple of weeks we haven’t been able to look after teams coming over for a game on a Sunday.
“They aren’t even allowed to use the changing rooms or the toilets.”
The centre has been reported to owe at least £110,000 in bills and rent and Kirklees Council said they were scaling down the facilities at the centre.
The gas supply has been cut off and the showers went cold.
But now the rugby team can’t even get into the building.
Brian, 55, said: “The showers were cold which wasn’t so bad in the summer but now it’s getting colder.
“We were told that until further notice that the changing facilities would be available to us.
“But the woman who looks after the centre told me just the other day the council has taken all the keys back and changed the locks.
“So I rang the man at Kirklees Leisure Services and they confirmed it had closed.
“I asked what would happen over the weekend when all the kids turn up on Saturday morning and when we turned up we were locked out.
The DRAM Centre on Ridgeway in Dalton opened in 2004 and cost £1.6m to build.
Funding came from Sport England, the DRAM regeneration programme, lottery money and from Kirklees Council.
The centre, which was run independently from the council, had a range of sports facilities, as well as changing and shower rooms, a function room and a bar.
Dalton councillor Roger Battye claimed the rugby club had not paid for using the centre when other organisations had.
He said the club had treated the DRAM Centre as an exclusive club.
But Brian, who works in financial services, said an agreement had been drawn up when the DRAM Centre committee was formed.
The Moldgreen man said the agreement stated that 30% of bar profits would go to the club up to a maximum of £10,000 a year.
The club never received any money, so it was agreed that, until the centre was in profit, the club would not pay for using it.
