A shelter for fans at Dover Rugby Club has been targeted by vandals just three weeks after it was built by a River pensioner.

Doug Capon, 73, of Hawthorn Close, has been volunteering at the club for the last four years and has spent the last few weeks building the temporary stand.

The shelter is so VIP fans can get out of the rain and enjoy the match. After only three weeks, it was targeted by vandals on Monday.

Scaffolding wrap has been cut in various places and glass bottles thrown through the slits.

This is despite Mr Capon writing a sign on the shelter that said: “Please don’t destroy it. Enjoy it.”

He said: “It’s annoying, you put all that work in to something and they vandalise it. They are mindless vandals.

“I was so proud of it now it’s all finished and then I saw what they had done.”

Mr Capon, a retired postman, volunteers by clearing up the changing rooms after each match, and also spends his Sunday mornings making sure there is no glass on the training pitch for the 50 or more children that turn up to play each week. He said teenagers regularly smoke, drink and smash bottles around the site causing disruption and vandalism.

He is now appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

The pensioner posted on Facebook: “After spending weeks building this temporary stand at the Dover Rugby Club for supporters to enjoy their rugby, some morons decided to slash the sheeting, while drinking and smashing the bottles inside it. If anyone knows the culprits please let me know.”

The former football coach said the club has been vandalised in the past and security was stepped up as a result.

He said the club could invest in CCTV cameras to try and catch the culprits.

His post on Facebook was met with many comments from residents sharing Mr Capon’s outrage and offering their condolences.