Castleford Tigers have lost thousands of pounds after the club’s ground was burgled over the weekend.
The Super League leaders claim their stadium was targeted in the early hours of both Friday and Saturday evening, which has resulted in a significant loss of cash and coins along with damage to offices.
Wakefield District CID are investigating and have asked anyone who has any information to come forward.
Castleford CEO Steve Gill said: “We can confirm that a break-in took place here at the Jungle over the weekend and a significant sum of money has been taken from our safes. Most of our match day takings had already been collected by G4S during Friday night’s game but bar takings from later in the evening have been stolen.
“We are working closely with West Yorkshire Police scenes of crime officers and using our CCTV footage to help identify the culprits of this break in. Can I urge anyone with any information to contact West Yorkshire Police immediately to help get to the bottom of this incident. Still saws and drills were used to break through three separate safes so this wasn’t a quick job, this was a calculated burglary.”
Wakefield District CID Phil Davis said: ”Significant amounts of cash have been stolen from the club in two break-ins during the weekend and we are working closely with the club to identify and catch those responsible.”
“The rugby club is a huge part of the community in Castleford and I would ask anyone who has information about this attack on it to come forward.
“In particular, we are keen to speak with anyone who might have seen persons trying to cash in significant amounts of coins locally, given that thousands of pounds worth of coins were stolen.
“This could include persons trying to use automatic coin chasing machines, or even going into money brokers and local banks.”