Vandals not caught after destroying Snohomish Youth Soccer Club fields

Spring soccer season is coming up for Snohomish Youth Soccer Club — but thanks to unknown vandals in a truck, multiple soccer fields that players were looking forward to running around on are now lying in ruin.

The club has 12 full-sized fields and eight small fields, totaling about 50 acres. On Sunday evening around 9 or 10 p.m., vandals broke onto the fields to drive in circles, creating a Nazca-Lines-esque set of six-inch tire treads that are deep enough to be seen from the sky.

“Somebody lifted up some of our fence posts and did donuts on our fields, and now we have massive ruts all over our complex,” Snohomish Youth Soccer Club Director Anthony Sardon told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

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Some of the fields are entirely ruined. One of the goals and some of the fencing will also need replacing. The total cost of repairs will be in the thousands, according to Sardon.

“I don’t know why somebody would do this to a youth soccer club,” he said. “We have lots of programs for kids, we have special needs kids that are part of our program … We want to provide a safe learning environment for the kids.”

Luckily, the weather worked against the vandals. Because the ground was still icy and hard from the recent snow, the tires didn’t do as much damage as they could have to a soggy, rainy field.

“It’s still a little solid from the snow and the cold weather, but if it was a little bit less, a little bit more rainy, I don’t know what we would do,” Sardon said.

A witness described the vehicle responsible for the crime as a truck or SUV that is dark-colored — either blue or purple — with some white on it. A second vehicle acted as a lookout.

Sardon does not have any idea who the criminals were, but he does not believe it was teens out to cause trouble because of the amount of work involved in just breaking onto the field.

“I would be surprised if teenage kids were involved in this because of how they would methodically have to take the posts apart and go through it,” he said, explaining that the process would have been very time-consuming due to the concrete that is underneath the posts.

Dori asked if the culprits could be angry parents wanting revenge after their kids were not chosen for a particular team.

“I hope not, but I wouldn’t be surprised — you know how youth sports can go,” Sardon replied. “It could happen. I think that that’s definitely a possibility.”

The club is working with the City of Snohomish and the Snohomish Police Department, but it needs help from the public; it is calling on the community to help find the people responsible and bring them to justice. The soccer club has a $1,000 cash reward out for anyone with any information that leads to the arrest of the people responsible.

If you have any leads, please contact Snohomish Youth Soccer Club via its website.

In the meantime, the people of Snohomish have stepped up to show their support for the local soccer club, starting a GoFundMe page and offering aid.

“The community has been great … One thing about being in a small town is, we have a great relationship with the local community and the city and the county,” Sardon said.

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