• A 19-year-old has been charged with intentional damage after tearing up Kumeū Rugby Club fields.
• His newly purchased vehicle was impounded, and he will appear in Waitākere District Court.
• Police thanked the community for information leading to the apprehension, emphasising consequences for such behaviour.

A teenager has been charged after he allegedly ripped up a rugby field in North West Auckland while taking his new car for a late-night joyride.

Kumeū Rugby Club president Glenn Wheeler told the Herald he was “devastated” after receiving a message just after 7am on Saturday from a local who was walking their dogs and spotted the significant damage.

Wheeler raced down to the fields and said it was “pretty heartbreaking” to see what he called the hub of the community in such a bad state.

Kumeū police said they got onto the case after locals discovered the club fields had been torn up early on Saturday morning.

A 19-year-old allegedly involved had “swapped the keys to his new pride and joy for a court appearance”, police said.

“A furore ensued on the community grapevines given a prized community asset had been damaged,” Sergeant Graham Bennett said.

Information was passed to police, which was followed up and a vehicle of interest had been identified.

Police said they had also interviewed the driver.

A 19-year-old Hobsonville man had been charged with intentional damage as well as other driving offences.

“The driver has had his newly purchased vehicle impounded.”

Wheeler said he lived close to the club, but didn’t hear anything when the incident took place at about 1.40am.

This wasn’t the first time drivers had ripped up the field, he said.

“Probably in the last six weeks, we’ve had a couple of occasions where we had people on the field, but not to the same extent.

“This one on Saturday was, yeah, next level.”

Wheeler said the club was lucky it didn’t have any games planned on Saturday.

“It created a bit of outrage among the club and around the community.”

A teenager’s tearing up of a rugby club’s fields has taken a turn for the worst. Photo / NZ Police

The council inspected the field today and told him contractors would do some extra work to get the field operational for the club day this weekend.

“It won’t look ideal and they might be a little bit hard to run underfoot, but they’re going to try and make them as safe as possible so that we can play.”

Police said the arrest was a reminder about consequences.

“We will not tolerate this behaviour in the community given the risks posed and damage created.”