HORROR has greeted the discovery of scissors sticking up from the grass on an Oakworth football pitch used by hundreds of children.

Local councillors were this week appalled by the apparently deliberate attempt to injure boys and girls as young as five playing soccer on Brontë playing fields.

The scissors, found following a Sunday evening invasion by more than 50 teenagers, were embedded in the pitch with two blades sticking several inches upwards.

Club president Ian Woodward and son Tom discovered the potentially-deadly implement on Monday during their regular inspection of the pitches.

They also found several beer bottles embedded in the grass, a wine bottle smashed on a goalpost, and huge amounts of litter strewn across the council-owned playing fields.

Mr Woodward said: “The pitches looked like battlefield – drug wrappers, condoms, food cartons. The bottles have been sunk into the grass with about half an inch showing.

“I think these youths were older than usual. There were gin and Budweiser bottles – proper hard-drinking stuff rather than kids drinking cider.

“People tell me that parents are dropping their kids off at the gates with beer. What do they think the kids are up to?”

Oakworth Juniors, which is run entirely by volunteers, has around 300 children aged five to 16 playing regularly on the pitches, which are rented from Bradford Council.

Mr Woodward said dozens of children and teenagers hung around on the fields in the evenings, with some playing informal games of football while others sat and talked.

He said many of these youths did not cause trouble, and responded to requests from club officials to put rubbish in bins and bags.

He said: “We’ve been going down the last three or four nights to confront them. Some of them are good kids.”

Mr Woodward believes Sunday evening’s damage came from a gang who arrived later than the usual local youngsters.

Mr Woodward said: “There must have been 50 or 60 in the one group. I didn’t recognise any of them.”

District councillor Rebecca Poulsen, whose Worth Valley ward includes the playing fields, described the scissor trap as “absolutely shocking”.

She said: “To leave an object like this anywhere is terrible, but it’s so dangerous to leave it where children play football, have fun and get healthy.

“We had a great time across the villages this weekend with a great community feeling during the Tour de Yorkshire, and then this.”

Newly-elected Worth Valley ward councillor Chris Herd described the placing of the scissors as “horrendous”, adding: “I have a young family myself. You’d be devastated if it happened to your children.”

Keighley town councillor Luke Maunsell, who represents Oakworth ward, said he was very disappointed and concerned by the scale of rubbish, and in particular the scissors.

He added: “It worries me that someone could have been so callous as to put children, and animals, in danger and I hope they are aware of the seriousness of their action.

“I hope that this proves to be a one-off incident and those who did this are caught and reflect on their behaviour.

“Oakworth is an incredible place to live and residents have worked tirelessly to keep the village neat, tidy and safe.”