Sports-loving youngsters in Haynes have shown a yellow card to village hall bosses after being told their broken football goalposts will not be replaced.

A set of miniature goals on Haynes Village Green were broken last month and subsequently taken away by Haynes Parish Council.

But parents and children are unhappy that the goals will not be replaced, leaving teenagers with little to do in the school holidays.

Ruth Sandham, who has two sons who play football on the green with their friends, said: "In this day and age people are always harping on about youngsters getting up to no good and about child obesity. Well, there was only one thing for them to do in the village anyway, and now there is nothing.

"My 15-year-old son Robert used to go out there three or four hours a day. Now I come home from work and he has nothing to do but watch television. With the school holidays coming up this is going to affect a lot of children.

"It is not children who have damaged this but they are the ones being punished. I am sure that if they had broken a window while playing football then people would be quick to make them pay.

"Yes, there is a full-sized pitch with two goals. But that is no good for small groups of teenagers."

A letter expressing the concerns was presented at a meeting of Haynes Parish Council on Tuesday evening (July 15), but the Times & Citizen has been unable to get an official response.